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Comparative Study
. 2012;7(2):e31292.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031292. Epub 2012 Feb 21.

Transcriptome comparison between fetal and adult mouse livers: implications for circadian clock mechanisms

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Transcriptome comparison between fetal and adult mouse livers: implications for circadian clock mechanisms

Chengwei Li et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Microarray transcriptome analyses of fetal mouse liver did not detect circadian expression rhythms of clock genes or clock-controlled genes, although some rhythmic transcripts that were likely not driven by endogenous cellular clocks were identified. This finding reveals a key distinction between the circadian oscillators in fetal and adult mouse livers. Thus, in this study, the transcriptomes of fetal and adult livers were systematically compared to identify differences in the gene expression profiles between these two developmental stages. Approximately 1000 transcripts were differentially enriched between the fetal and adult livers. These transcripts represent genes with cellular functions characteristic of distinct developmental stages. Clock genes were also differentially expressed between the fetal and adult livers. Developmental differences in liver gene expression might have contributed to the differences in oscillation status and functional states of the cellular circadian clock between fetal and adult livers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Comparisons between fetal and adult liver transcriptomes.
(A) Scatterplot of normalized and scaled average expression values in fetal (y-axis, series 2) and adult (x-axis) livers. Pairwise values for 22626 probe sets were plotted. r = 0.67, P = <0.01. (B) Fold differences in normalized and scaled average expression values between fetal (series 2) and adult (GSE11923) livers for 22626 probe sets. Ratios (fetal: adult) were plotted against their ranks.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analyses on selected transcripts differentially expressed between fetal and adult livers.
Equal amounts of starting RNA were reverse transcribed and subject to semi-quantitative PCR. PCR cycles were adjusted depending on transcripts abundance. Fetal (series 1 and 2: F1 and F2) and adult liver (A) PCR results were compared by agarose gel electrophoresis. Negative controls (N) were performed by using no RT templates. All PCR products were sequence confirmed.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Differential expression of clock genes between fetal and adult livers.
Relative expression levels of selected clock genes, as detected by real-time RT-PCR results analyses on. Delta Ct values were converted to fold differences assuming amplification efficiency of 1.0. Adult expression level for each gene was set at 1.0.

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