title: Expression profiling of human fetal growth plate cartilage by EST sequencing.
abstract: The differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into hypertrophic chondrocytes is an integral and multistep process important in pattern formation, endochondral ossification, and postnatal growth of the skeleton. In recent years, novel genes involved in these processes have been identified, but still only little is known about the large-scale gene expression profile during skeletal development. We initiated an expressed sequence tag (EST) project aiming at the identification of genes and pathways involved in this complex process. Candidate genes are expected to be of value for diagnosis and treatment of monogenic and multigenic heritable disorders of the skeleton. Here, we describe the sequences of 4,748 clones from a human growth plate cartilage cDNA library generated from 20 weeks prenatal-2 years postnatal specimens. In silico analysis of these sequences revealed 1,688 individual transcription units, corresponding to known (1,274) and to novel, yet uncharacterised potential genes (414). The tissue specificity of the library was reflected by its corresponding EST profile representing a total of approximately 10% proteins already shown to be involved in cartilage/bone development or homeostasis. The EST profile also reflects the developmental stage of the tissue with significant differences in the expression of matrix proteins compared to corresponding EST profiles from 8-12 and 12-20 week human fetal cartilage. Calculation of the relative frequency of transcripts in our cDNA library, as compared to their abundance in other EST datasets, revealed a set of approximately 200 genes, including 81 novel, yet uncharacterised genes, showing increased expression. These genes represent candidates for the large number of osteochondrodysplasias for which the causative gene defects have not yet been identified.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, Friedrich Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schwabachanlage 10, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tagariello
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schlaubitz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hankeln
authors.forename: Gerrit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mohrmann
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stelzer
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schweizer
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hermanns
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Erwin R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Winterpacht
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zabel
mesh_terms: D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005333:Fetus / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics*; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D011509:Proteoglycans