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RNA sequencing profiling of the retina in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice: enhancing the retinal microarray datasets from GeneNetwork

ABSTRACT: Purpose: The goal of the present study is to provide an independent assessment of the retinal transcriptome signatures of the C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) mice and to enhance existing microarray datasets for accurately defining the allelic differences in the BXD recombinant inbred strains. Methods: Retinas from both B6 and D2 mice (3 of each) were used for the RNA-seq analysis. Transcriptome features were examined for both strains. Differentially expressed genes between the 2 strains were identified and bioinformatic analysis was performed to analyze the transcriptome differences between B6 and D2 strains, including Gene ontology (GO) analysis, Phenotype and Reactome enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. The RNA-seq data were then directly compared with one of the microarray datasets (DoD Retina Normal Affy MoGene 2.0 ST RMA Gene Level Microarray Database) hosted on GeneNetwork (www.genenetwork.org). Results: RNA-seq provided an in-depth analysis of the transcriptome of the B6 and D2 retina with a total of more than 30,000,000 reads per sample. Over 70% of the reads were uniquely mapped, resulting in a total of 18,100 gene counts for all 6 samples. 1,665 genes were differentially expressed, with 858 of these more highly expressed in B6 and 807 more highly expressed in D2. Several molecular pathways were differentially active between the two strains, including the retinoic acid metabolic process, endoplasmic reticulum lumen, extracellular matrix organization, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. The most enriched KEGG pathways were the pentose and glucuronate interconversions pathway, the cytochrome P450 pathway, protein digestion and absorption pathway and the ECM-receptor interaction pathway. Each of these pathways had a more than 4-fold enrichment. The DoD normal retina microarray database provided expression profiling for 26,191 annotated transcripts for B6 mouse, D2 mouse and 53 BXD strains. A total of 13,793 genes in this microarray dataset were comparable to the RNA-seq dataset. For both B6 and D2, the RNA-seq data and microarray data were highly correlated with each other (Pearson's r = 0.780 for B6 and 0.784 for D2). Our results suggest that the microarray dataset can reliably detect differentially expressed genes between the B6 and D2 retinas, with a positive predictive value of 45.6%, and a negative predictive value of 93.6%. Examples of true positive and false positive genes are provided. Conclusions: Retinal transcriptome features of B6 and D2 mouse strains provide a useful reference for a better understanding of the mouse retina. Generally, the microarray database presented on GeneNetwork shows good agreement with the RNA-seq data, while we note that any allelic difference between B6 and D2 should be verified with the latter.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE127942 | GEO | 2019/05/31

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Individual genetic variation affects gene expression and cell phenotype by acting within complex molecular circuits, but this relationship is still largely unknown. Here, we combine genomic and meso-scale profiling with novel computational methods to detect genetic variants that affect the responsiveness of gene expression to stimulus (responsiveness QTLs) and position them in circuit diagrams. We apply this approach to study individual variation in transcriptional responsiveness to three different pathogen components in the model response of primary bone marrow dendritic cells (DCs) from recombinant inbred mice strains. We show that reQTLs are common both in cis (affecting a single target gene) and in trans (pleiotropically affecting co-regulated gene modules) and are specific to some stimuli but not others. Leveraging the stimulus-specific activity of reQTLs and the differential responsiveness of their associated targets, we show how to position reQTLs within the context of known pathways in this regulatory circuit. For example, we find that a pleiotropic trans-acting genetic factor in chr1:129-165Mb affects the responsiveness of 35 anti-viral genes only during an anti-viral like stimulus. Using RNAi we uncover RGS16 the likely causal gene in this interval, and an activator of the antiviral response. Our approach charts an experimental and analytic path to decipher the mechanisms underlying genetic variation in other complex circuits in primary mammalian cells. The transcriptional response of DCs to pathogen components in the context of the mouse BXD recombinant inbred lines. We isolated DCs from individual age-synchronized female mice of different BXD and parental strains. We measured 30 global transcription profiles in resting and stimulated DCs from two parental strains (B6 and D2) and six BXD strains. We used bone marrow derived primary DCs from a panel of recombinant inbred (RI) BXD mice derived from a cross of the parental C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) strains. We measured transcriptional responses in DCs from each of two parental strains and 6 BXD strains stimulated by three ligands of Toll-like receptors: LPS (TLR4 ligand), Pam3CSK ('PAM', TLR2 ligand) and poly IC (TLR3/RIG-I ligand).

Project description:C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) are two of the most commonly used inbred mouse strains in neuroscience research. However, the only currently available mouse genome is based entirely on the B6 strain sequence. Subsequently, oligonucleotide microarray probes are based solely on this B6 reference sequence, making their application for gene expression profiling comparisons across mouse strains dubious due to their allelic sequence differences, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and the RNA-Seq application provides a clear alternative to oligonucleotide arrays for detecting differential gene expression without the problems inherent to hybridization-based technologies. Using RNA-Seq, an average of 22 million short sequencing reads were generated per sample for 21 samples (10 B6 and 11 D2), and these reads were aligned to the mouse reference genome, allowing 16,183 Ensembl genes to be queried in striatum for both strains. To determine differential expression, 'digital mRNA counting' is applied based on reads that map to exons. The current study compares RNA-Seq (Illumina GA IIx) with two microarray platforms (Illumina MouseRef-8 v2.0 and Affymetrix MOE 430 2.0) to detect differential striatal gene expression between the B6 and D2 inbred mouse strains. We show that by using stringent data processing requirements differential expression as determined by RNA-Seq is concordant with both the Affymetrix and Illumina platforms in more instances than it is concordant with only a single platform, and that instances of discordance with respect to direction of fold change were rare. Finally, we show that additional information is gained from RNA-Seq compared to hybridization-based techniques as RNA-Seq detects more genes than either microarray platform. The majority of genes differentially expressed in RNA-Seq were only detected as present in RNA-Seq, which is important for studies with smaller effect sizes where the sensitivity of hybridization-based techniques could bias interpretation.

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RNA sequencing profiling of the retina in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice: enhancing the retinal microarray datasets from GeneNetwork

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