Abstract
To identify preferentially expressed genes in the central endocrine organs of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, we generated transcriptome-wide mRNA profiles of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and parietal cortex in male mice (12–15 weeks old) using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE). Total counts of SAGE tags for the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and parietal cortex were 165824, 126688, and 161045 tags, respectively. This represented 59244, 45151, and 55131 distinct tags, respectively. Comparison of these mRNA profiles revealed that 22 mRNA species, including three potential novel transcripts, were preferentially expressed in the hypothalamus. In addition to well-known hypothalamic transcripts, such as hypocretin, several genes involved in hormone function, intracellular transduction, metabolism, protein transport, steroidogenesis, extracellular matrix, and brain disease were identified as preferentially expressed hypothalamic transcripts. In the pituitary gland, 106 mRNA species, including 60 potential novel transcripts, were preferentially expressed. In addition to well-known pituitary genes, such as growth hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone beta, a number of genes classified to function in transport, amino acid metabolism, intracellular transduction, cell adhesion, disulfide bond formation, stress response, transcription, protein synthesis, and turnover, cell differentiation, the cell cycle, and in the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix were also preferentially expressed. In conclusion, the current study identified not only well-known hypothalamic and pituitary transcripts but also a number of new candidates likely to be involved in endocrine homeostatic systems regulated by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland.
Highlights
Identification of actively transcribed genes is fundamental to understanding the function, molecular biology, and physiology of specific tissues and organs
While deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarray and gene chip strategies are limited by their ability to analyze only previously known genes, serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) does not require a priori knowledge of the sequence of mRNA transcripts expressed in the tissues of interest
The preferentially expressed hypothalamic transcripts involved in intracellular transduction were growth factor receptor bound protein 10 (Grb10) and pregnancy upregulated non-ubiquitously expressed CaM kinase (Pnck)
Summary
Identification of actively transcribed genes is fundamental to understanding the function, molecular biology, and physiology of specific tissues and organs. The serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) method and complementary DNA (cDNA). Microarray or gene chip analysis are efficient strategies which enable gene expression profiling at the transcriptome level. While DNA microarray and gene chip strategies are limited by their ability to analyze only previously known genes, SAGE does not require a priori knowledge of the sequence of mRNA transcripts expressed in the tissues of interest. SAGE allows the discovery of potential novel transcripts that are differentially expressed. SAGE is a powerful method that can globally characterize gene expression in tissues of interest and that can detect transcripts differentially expressed under various physiological and diseases conditions (Velculescu et al, 1995; St-Amand et al, 2001; Nishida et al, 2006, 2009)
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