title: Identification of novel genes and transcription factors involved in spleen, thymus and immunological development and function.
abstract: We constructed and analyzed six serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) libraries to identify genes with previously uncharacterized roles in spleen or thymus development. A total of 625 070 tags were sequenced from the three spleen (embryonic day (E)15.5, E16.5 and adult) and three thymus (E15.5, E18.5 and adult) libraries. These tags corresponded to 83 182 tag types, which mapped unambiguously to 36 133 different genes. Genes over-represented in these libraries, compared to 115 mouse SAGE libraries (www.mouseatlas.org), included genes of known and unknown immunological or developmental relevance. The expression profiles of 11 genes with unknown roles in spleen and thymus development were validated using reverse transcription-qPCR. We further characterized the expression of one of these candidates, RIKEN cDNA 9230105E10 that encodes a murine homolog of Trim5alpha, in numerous adult tissues and immune cell types. In addition, we demonstrate that transcript levels are upregulated in response to TLR stimulation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and macrophages. This work provides the first evidence of regulated and cell type-specific expression of this gene. In addition, these observations suggest that the SAGE libraries provide an important resource for further investigations into the molecular mechanisms regulating spleen and thymus organogenesis, as well as the development of immunological competence.
authors.affiliation: BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Tien
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: T Ruiz
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: de Algara
authors.forename: J P-Y
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ting
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Helgason
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015723:Gene Library; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013154:Spleen / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*; D014157:Transcription Factors
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D014157:Transcription Factors