The effects of death and post-mortem cold ischemia on human tissue transcriptomes.

ABSTRACT: Post-mortem tissues samples are a key resource for investigating patterns of gene expression. However, the processes triggered by death and the post-mortem interval (PMI) can significantly alter physiologically normal RNA levels. We investigate the impact of PMI on gene expression using data from multiple tissues of post-mortem donors obtained from the GTEx project. We find that many genes change expression over relatively short PMIs in a tissue-specific manner, but this potentially confounding effect in a biological analysis can be minimized by taking into account appropriate covariates. By comparing ante- and post-mortem blood samples, we identify the cascade of transcriptional events triggered by death of the organism. These events do not appear to simply reflect stochastic variation re

SUBMITTER: Ferreira PG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5811508 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature