Transcriptional Profiling of the Heart Reveals Chamber-Specific Gene Expression Patterns

• Published in: Circulation research 2003-12, Vol.93 (12), p.1193-1201
• Main Authors: Tabibiazar, Raymond, Wagner, Roger A, Liao, Arnold, Quertermous, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cluster Analysis; Expressed Sequence Tags; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Profiling; Heart; Heart Atria - metabolism; Heart Septum - metabolism; Heart Ventricles - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Myocardium - metabolism; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis - methods; Reproducibility of Results; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Transcription, Genetic - genetics; Vertebrates: cardiovascular system
• ISSN: 0009-7330; 1524-4571
• DOI: 10.1161/01.RES.0000103171.42654.DD

ABSTRACT—Cardiac chamber-specific gene expression is critical for the normal development and function of the heart. To investigate the genetic basis of cardiac anatomical specialization, we have undertaken a nearly genome-wide transcriptional profiling of the four heart chambers and the interventricular septum. Rigorous statistical analysis has allowed the identification of known and novel members of gene families that are felt to be important in cardiac development and function, including LIM proteins, homeobox proteins, wnt and T-box pathway proteins, as well as structural proteins like actins and myosins. In addition, these studies have allowed the identification of thousands of additional differentially expressed genes, for which there is little structural or functional information. Clustering of genes with known and unknown functions provides insights into signaling pathways that are essential for development and maintenance of chamber-specific features. To facilitate future research in this area, a searchable internet database has been constructed that allows study of the chamber-specific expression of any gene represented on this comprehensive microarray. It is anticipated that further study of genes identified through this effort will provide insights into the specialization of heart chamber tissues, and their specific roles in cardiac development, aging, and disease.