BioProject

To assess the influence of Tbx1 on gene expression profile within the developing palate we performed a microarray screen using RNA isolated from dissected secondary palate shelves of E13.5 wild type, Tbx1+/- and Tbx1-/- mice. Significant differences were identified between genotypes, with a total of 67 genes demonstrating at least a 2-fold change (p<0.05) in expression. These were clustered into 5 groups, including those downregulated in mutant compared to wild type and heterozygote (n=36); those progressively downregulated from wild type to mutant (n=12); those upregulated in heterozygote and downregulated in mutant compared to wild type (n=2); those progressively upregulated from wild type to mutant (n=12) and those downregulated in heterozygote and upregulated in mutant compared to wild type (n=5). High-throughput real time quantitative RT-PCR confirmed a total of 18 genes significantly changed between wild type and mutant and 24 between heterozygote and mutant. Amongst these, 15 were present in both groups and all except 1 were downregulated in the mutant. There were no significant differences in gene expression between wild type and heterozygous palatal shelves. Overall design: Secondary palatal shelf pairs were carefully microdissected from E13.5 Tbx1+/+; Tbx1+/- and Tbx1-/- embryos (3 embryos per genotype as biological replicates). RNA was extracted from each pooled shelf pair generating nine RNA samples in total, each one analysed using a single microarray.