If similar differences exist within or between cohorts of wild fishes, SSB may over estimate reproductive potential because differences between females in egg quality are not taken into account. This takes on added significance if transcriptomic fingerprints shift toward higher fertility profiles with increasing age as, despite evidence to the contrary, most current fishery management models consider many small females to be equivalent to a few larger ones if the ovarian biomass is comparable. Transcriptomic profiling may provide an expedient means to better assess the reproductive health of fisheries and other animal resources important to global food security and has far reaching implications in agriculture and in medical fields such as human assisted reproductive technology. We discovered that it is possible to predict the state of a biologically complex fitness trait, egg quality, with remarkable accuracy based solely on ovary gene expression profiles. The collective expression of a discrete suite of ovarian transcripts, constituting a transcriptomic fingerprint, involved specific, highlyconserved gene networks central to early embryonic development in all vertebrates. Our findings open the door to ‘transcriptomeassisted’ breeding and assessment of reproductive condition and value in farmed and possibly wild fishes and other vertebrates, possibly including human assisted reproductive technologies. The ovary transcriptome profiles and ANN analytical methods developed in the present study provide a foundation for future research into the effects of perturbations on egg transcriptome and quality, so that gene networks and molecular pathways most susceptible to a particular insult can be identified. Additionally, we propose that ANNs may be a superior alternative to linear-based analyses of gene expression data that can be used as a diagnostic tool, provided that the ANNs are trained with appropriate data. Light regulates a wide range of plant processes including seed germination, organ, cell and organelle differentiation, flowering and metabolism. The germination of a seed in the dark follows skotomorphogenesis. Upon exposure to light, seedlings go through photomorphogenesis that is marked by chlorophyll biosynthesis, differentiation of protoplastids into chloroplasts, the initiation of carbon assimilation, elongation and thickening of the hypocotyl, and the activation of the shoot apical meristem leading to the development of the first true leaves. Although the transition from skotomorphogenic to photomorphogenic growth has been well-documented in Arabidopsis, the complex gene networks at the genome level controlling this developmental transition in wheat are not well understood. In order to investigate and identify the complex transcriptional network associated with seedling photomorphogenesis in Einkorn wheat.