Project description:Lhx8 is a member of the LIM-homeobox transcription factor family and preferentially expressed in oocytes and germ cells within the mouse ovary. We discovered that Lhx8 knockout females lose oocytes within 7 days after birth. At the time of birth, histological examination shows that Lhx8 deficient (Lhx8(-/-)) ovaries are grossly similar to the newborn wild type ovaries. Lhx8(-/-) ovaries fail to maintain the primordial follicles and the transition from primordial to growing follicles does not occur. Lhx8(-/-) ovaries misexpress oocyte-specific genes such as Gdf9, Pou5f1, and Nobox. Very rapid loss of oocytes may partly be due to drastic the down-regulation of Kit and Kitl in Lhx8(-/-) ovaries. We compared Lhx8(-/-) and wild-type ovaries using Affymetrix 430 2.0 microarray platform. Eighty (44%) of 180 of the genes down-regulated more than 5-fold in Lhx8(-/-) ovaries were preferentially expressed in oocytes, whereas only 3 (2%) of 146 genes up-regulated more than 5-fold in the absence of Lhx8 were preferentially expressed in oocytes. In addition, the comparison of genes regulated in Lhx8(-/-) and Nobox(-/-) newborn ovaries discovered a common set of 34 genes whose expression level is affected in both Lhx8 and Nobox deficient mice. Our findings show that Lhx8 is a critical factor for maintenance and differentiation of the oocyte during early oogenesis and it acts in part by down-regulating the Nobox pathway. This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE7774: Transcriptional changes in Lhx8 Null newborn mouse ovaries GSE7775: Microarray Analyses of Newborn Mouse Ovaries Lacking Nobox GSE7776: Ovarian Transcript Expression in Newborn Mouse Refer to individual Series
Project description:Microarray Analyses of Newborn Mouse lens lacking HSF4. Hsf4 is essential for lens development. Newborn Mouse lens expression pattern of HSF4-/- and wildtype.
Project description:Sohlh1 and Sohlh2 are germ cell-specific basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors critical in early folliculogenesis. Differential genes expression by both Sohlh1 and Sohlh2 deficiency in mouse newborn ovaries was accessed using microarray. RNA samples from Sohlh1/ Sohlh2 double knockout and wild-type newborn ovaries were arrayed on the Illumina beadchip mouse WG-6 2.0.