Legend: UPDATE THIS FIGURE: Bar chart of the expression of Dab1 probe ILM103520706 in the LXS data set. This probe has a Mendelian segregation pattern and is associated with an LRS 360.3 in this May07 RankInv data set vs 358.8 for the previous Oct06 data set.
ABOUT THE HIPPOCAMPUS. The hippocampus is an important and intriguing part of the forebrain that is crucial in memory formation and retrieval. This region of the brain is particularly vulnerable to the effects of environmental stressors and is a key upstream modulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (the HPA). The hippocampus is also often affected in epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia. Unlike most other parts of the brain, the hippocampus contains a remarkable population of stems cells that continue to generate neurons and glial cells even in adult mammals (Kempermann, 2005). This genetic analysis of transcript expression in the hippocampus (dentate gyrus, CA1-CA3) is a joint effort of 14 investigators supported by numerous agencies described in the Acknowledgments section.
About the strains used to generate this set of data:
The LXS genetic reference panel of recombinant inbred strains consists of just over 77 strains. All of these strains have been inbred for more than 23 generations (F23). All strains have been genotyped at 13,377 SNPs. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Timothy Wiltshire at the Genome Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, the two parental strains have been genotyped at 156,551 SNPs. These genotypes are incorporated in the GeneNetwork SNP Browser.
Strains are currently available from Drs. Beth Bennett and Tom Johnson at the Institute of Behavioral Genetics (IBG) in Boulder Colorado.
About the animals and tissue used to generate this set of data:
All animals were raised at the IBG by Bennett and colleagues in an SPF facility. No cases were MHV positive. Mice were killed by cervical dislocation. Whole brain dissections were performed at the IBG by Bennett and colleagues and shipped in RNAlater to Lu Lu and colleagues at UTHSC. Most hippocampal dissections (all were bilateral) were performed by Zhiping Jia. Cerebella, olfactory bulbs, and brain stems were also dissected and stored at -80 deg C using further use. Hippocampal samples are very close to complete (see Lu et al., 2001 but probably include variable amounts of fimbria and choroid plexus (see expression of transthyretin, Ttr, as a marker of choroid plexus).
A pool of dissected tissue from four hippocampi taken from two naive adults of the same strain, sex, and age was collected in one session and used to generate RNA samples. The great majority (75%) of animals were sacrificed between 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM. All animals were sacrificed between 9 AM and 5 PM during the light phase. All RNA samples were extracted at UTHSC by Zhiping Jia.
All animals used in this study were between 53 and 90 days of age (average of 72 days; see Table 1 below).
Sample Processing: Samples were processed by Lu Lu and colleagues in the Illumina Core at UTHSC between July 25 and Dec 20, 2006. All processing steps were performed by Feng Jiao. In brief, RNA purity was evaluated using the 260/280 nm absorbance ratio, and values had to be greater than 1.8 to pass our quality control (QC). The majority of samples had values between 1.9 and 2.1. RNA integrity was assessed using the Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100. The standard Eberwine T7 polymerase method was used to catalyze the synthesis of cDNA template from polyA-tailed RNA using the Ambion/Illumina (http://www.ambion.com/catalog/CatNum.php?AMIL1791) TotalPrep RNA amplication kit (Cat#IL1791). The biotin labeled cRNA was then evaluated using both the 260/280 ratio (values of 2.0-2.3 are acceptable) using a NanoDrop ND-1000 (http://www.nanodrop.com/nd-1000-overview.html). Those samples that passed QC steps (1-3% failed and new RNA samples had to be acquired and processed) were immediately used on the original Mouse-6 v 1.0 slide. The slides were hybridized and washed following standard Illumina protocols.
Replication and Sample Balance: We obtained a male sample pool and female sample pool from each strain. While all strains were orginally represented by matched male and female samples, strain LXS114 is represented by two male pools (see figure at bottom of page).
Experimental Design and Batch Structure: This data set consists arrays processed in 13 groups over a five month period (July 2006 to Dec 2006). Most groups consisted of 12 samples. All arrays in this data set were processed using a single protocol by a single operator, Feng Yiao. Processing was supervised directly by Dr. Lu Lu. All samples were scanned on a single Illumina Beadstation housed in the Hamilton Eye Institute between July 28 and Dec 21, 2006. Details on sample assignment to slides and batches is provide in the table below.
Quality Control on Sex Labels: Sex of the samples was validated using sex-specific probe set: Xist (probe ILM106520068, also known as scl00213742.1_141-S).
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