Project description:The early retinal progenitor-expressed gene Sox11 regulates the timing of the differentiation of retinal cells. Sry-related HMG box (Sox) proteins play diverse and critical roles in a variety of morphogenetic processes during embryonic development. Sox11 and Sox4 are members of the SoxC subtype, and we found that Sox11 was strongly expressed in early retinal progenitor cells, and that when expression of Sox11 subsided around birth, Sox4 expression began. To analyze the role of Sox11 and Sox4 in retinal development, we perturbed their expression pattern by expressing them ectopically in retinal explant culture. Overexpression of Sox11 or Sox4 in retinal progenitors resulted in similar phenotypes, that is, increased cone cells and decreased Muller glia. Sox11-knockout retinas showed delayed onset and progress of differentiation of early-born retinal cells during the embryonic period. After birth, retinal differentiation took place relatively normally, probably because of the redundant activity of Sox4, which starts to differentiate around birth. Neither overexpression nor loss-of-function analysis gave any evidence that Sox11 and Sox4 directly regulate transcription of genes critical to early-born retinal cells. However, histone H3 acetylation status of the early neurogenic genes was lowered in knockout retinas, suggesting that Sox11 regulates the timing of differentiation in early-born retinas by creating an epigenetic state that helps to establish the competency to differentiate. We also found that the unique expression patterns of Sox11 and Sox4 may be achieved by the Notch signaling pathway and by epigenetic regulation. Taking our findings together, we propose that the precise regulation of Sox11 and Sox4 expression during retinogenesis by multiple mechanisms leads to the fine adjustment of retinal differentiation. To delineate the molecular mechanisms underlying the retinal action of Sox11, we performed microarray analysis of E18 retinas from wild-type and Sox11 knockout mice. Total RNA was obtained from each one retina of Sox11 knockout and wild-type littermate embryos at E18.
Project description:Expression profiling of cortex from embryonic day (E) 17.5 telencephalon of Sox11(+/+) and Sox11(-/-) mouse embryos. Sox11 is implicated in regulating proliferation, neuronal migration and differentiation. We used microarray to identify genes that were differentially expressed in the cortex in the wild type and Sox11 knockout embryos at E17.5.
Project description:Expression profiling of cortex from embryonic day (E) 17.5 telencephalon of Sox11(+/+) and Sox11(-/-) mouse embryos. Sox11 is implicated in regulating proliferation, neuronal migration and differentiation. We used microarray to identify genes that were differentially expressed in the cortex in the wild type and Sox11 knockout embryos at E17.5. To uncover the molecular mechanisms undelying the function of Sox11 in cortical development, we conducted microarray analysis of E17.5 cortices from wild type and Sox11(-/-) mice. Total RNA was isolated from the cortex of one wild type embryo and one Sox11(-/-) littermate at E17.5. cRNA probe synthesis, hybridization, scanning, and data collection were performed following the manufacturer's instruction.
Project description:The chicken embryo (Gallus gallus) is a classic model system for studying developmental biology. During chick development, embryonic day 8 (E8) retina are packed with multipotent neuronal precursors on the cusp of differentiation into all retinal cell types. By E18 the retina is nearly fully mature with all major retinal cell types differentiated and expressing cell type-specific genes. Whole retina were harvested from embryonic day 8 (E8), E16, and E18 developing chicken embryos. Whole cornea were also collected from E18 embryos as a reference tissue. Duplicates were obtained for each time point and total RNA was extracted from samples using a Qiagen AllPrep Mini Kit. To characterize differential gene expression in these tissues, Illumina stranded TrueSeq RNA-Seq libraries were prepared from total RNA and 125 PE sequencing reads were obtained. These data will be used to characterize retina-specific patters of gene expression as well as global changes in gene expression between critical developmental time points in the chicken retina.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of mouse E16 epidermis deficient of Sox4, Sox11, or both as compared to gender matched wild type littermate controls. Goal was to identify the genes differentially expresssed in the conditional knockout epidermis vs the wild-type control epidermis.