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Strain-specific Variation in Mouse Gene Expression and the Onset of Gap Junction Mutation-induced Cataracts

ABSTRACT: Disruption of the mouse gene encoding the gap junction subunit alpha3 connexin 46 (Cx46) results in the formation of lens cataracts. The timing of the onset of this lens opacity is affected by the genetic background, i.e. the mouse strain. To elucidate the mechanism by which cataracts form in the 129Sv/Jae strain earlier than in the C57BL/6J strain, global gene expression was quantitated in the lenses of these strains. Lens cDNAs were analyzed by hybridization to DNA microarrays and with real time-PCR. Theories are proposed based on the observed higher level of expression of the stress-response genes in the C57BL/6J strain and variations in the expression levels of genes involved in protein synthesis, metabolism, catabolism and cell proliferation. How these variations in gene expression might affect the response of lens fiber cells to the increased calcium, caused by lack of alpha3Cx46, is considered. The possibility that the proteins coded by the strain-variable genes might influence the cataract-associated proteolysis of gamma-crystallin is also addressed. Keywords: Lens, cataract, microarray, connexin 46, gene knock out

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE5645 | GEO | 2009/05/01

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA96843

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Although majority of the genes linked to pediatric cataract exhibit lens fiber cell-enriched expression, our understanding of gene regulation in these cells is limited to function of just eight transcription factors and largely in the context of crystallins. Here, we identify small Maf transcription factors MafG and MafK as regulators of several non-crystallin human cataract genes in fiber cells and establish their significance to cataract. We applied a bioinformatics tool for cataract gene discovery iSyTE to identify MafG and its co-regulators in the lens, and generated various null-allelic combinations of MafG:MafK mouse mutants for phenotypic and molecular analysis. By age 4-months, MafG-/-:MafK+/- mutants exhibit lens defects that progressively develop into cataract. High-resolution phenotypic characterization of MafG-/-:MafK+/- lens reveals severe defects in fiber cells, while microarrays-based expression profiling identifies 97 differentially regulated genes (DRGs). Integrative analysis of MafG-/-:MafK+/- lens-DRGs with 1) binding-motifs and genomic targets of small Mafs and their regulatory partners, 2) iSyTE lens-expression data, and 3) interactions between DRGs in the String database, unravels a detailed small Maf regulatory network in the lens, several nodes of which are linked to human cataract. This analysis prioritizes 36 highly promising candidates from the original 97 DRGs. Significantly, 8/36 (22%) DRGs are associated with cataracts in human (GSTO1, MGST1, SC4MOL, UCHL1) or mouse (Aldh3a1, Crygf, Hspb1, Pcbd1), suggesting a multifactorial etiology that includes elevation of oxidative stress. These data identify MafG and MafK as new cataract-associated candidates and define their function in regulating largely non-crystallin genes linked to mouse and human cataract. Microarray comparision of lenses from mixed background (129Sv/J, C57BL/6J, and ICR) control (MafG+/-:MafK+/-; no-cataract) and compound (MafG-/-:MafK+/-; cataract) mouse mutants

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Strain-specific Variation in Mouse Gene Expression and the Onset of Gap Junction Mutation-induced Cataracts

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