RNA-sequencing reveals predominance of THRA splicing isoform 2 in developing human brain [untreated]
Thyroid Hormone Receptor a (THRa) is a nuclear hormone receptor for triiodothyronine (T3) that acts as a transcription factor. Depending on its splicing pattern, it may act either as a stimulator or inhibitor of gene transcription. The relative proportions of the THRa splicing isoforms (THRa1 versus THRa2) in different tissues are crucial for the outcome of transcription regulation. To date, the tissue-specific expression patterns of the two main isoforms in  human cortical development have not been determined. To address this gap, we generated cortical brain organoids in vitro following the STEMdiff™ Cerebral Organoid Kit guidelines. We then generated the stranded bulk RNA-Seq dataset here presented. We employed a bioinformatics pipeline to ensure the quality of the dataset and to extract and quantify the read counts specific for our isoforms of interest. We observed a steady increase of THRa transcript in time and a strong predominance of THRa2 transcripts at all stages. Overall design: bulk RNA-Seq of human cortical brain organoids collected at 3 different timepoints (day 26 two biological replicates; day 46 three biological replicates; day 61 three biological replicates)