Gene expression differences that explain strain variations in lung architecture

Abstract

The lung architecture of different inbred strains of mice is highly variable. However, little is known about the lung gene expression differences that lead to this strain variation. In this study, gene expression profiles from the lungs of C3H/HeJ (C3), C57BL/6J (B6) and A/J mice as well as offspring of C3 and B6 progenitors, B6C3F1 (F1), were generated by microarray analysis to find which genes might influence why B6 and C3 mice have such distinct lung structure from one another and to understand gene heritability patterns. Replicate samples (two animals per strain) of five-week-old mouse lungs were collected, prepared and hybridized onto Affymetrix Mouse MOE430A gene chips. Stringent analysis of the data revealed common and unique gene expression patterns among B6, C3, and F1 mice with A/J used as a reference. To confirm the data, real-time PCR analysis was performed on genes shown to be specific to B6 or C3 mice. Several of the structural or transcription factor genes including decorin (Dcn), elastin (Eln), wnt1-inducible signaling protein 1 (Wisp1), and SRY-box containing gene 7 (Sox7) have been linked to Wnt signaling in previous studies, implicating the role of the Wnt pathway in the variation among mouse strains in lung structure.