Project description:Titinopathies are inherited muscular diseases triggered by genetic mutations in the titin gene. Muscular dystrophy with myositis (mdm) is one such disease caused by a deletion in the N2A-PEVK region of titin, one of the most active binding sites in titin, and mice with this deletion develop progressive muscle degeneration. The range of phenotypic differences observed in mdm mice extends well beyond impacts on titin, making it clear that deletion of this region initiates a cascade of additional transcriptomic changes. Previous research has focused on correlating phenotypic differences with muscle function in mdm mice. These studies have provided understanding of the downstream physiological effects resulting from the deletion but only provide insights on processes that can be physiologically observed and measured. We used differential gene expression (DGE) to compare the transcriptomes of extensor digitorum longus (EDL), psoas and soleus muscles from wild-type and mdm mice to develop a deeper understand of these tissue-specific responses.
