Fig. 3: WGCNA identifies gene networks associated with EXT.

a Heatmap plot depicting the co-expression topological overlap matrix (interaction patterns among genes using correlation as a measure of co-expression), supplemented by hierarchical clustering dendrograms, and the module colors for the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis. Please note network names are colors by convention. b Network module eigengenes were used for differential expression for FC (n = 12) vs. TA (n = 16), and EXT (n = 16) vs. TA (n = 16) using limma with FDR multiple testing correction of p values. Summarizing the results of differential module eigengene expression analysis, the Venn diagram revealed unique and shared upregulated (red ellipse) and downregulated (blue ellipse) gene network modules by FC or EXT compared to TA in both sexes, c The barplot depicted the distributions of genes included in uniquely EXT-associated networks (“bisque4”, “darkorange2”, “turquoise”, “darkred”, and “thistle2”) into EXT-associated DEGs (blue or red) or not (gray). Red indicates upregulated genes, and blue indicates downregulated genes. More intense color indicates FDR-adjusted p value < 0.05.