Genome wide gene expression during lung development in three inbred mouse strains

To better understand the temporal dynamics of gene expression during normal murine lung development we characterized global gene expression at 26 time points in three common inbred strains of mice (A/J, C57BL/6J, and C3H/HeJ). The data set provides a unique resource for identifying patterns of gene expression changes during normal lung development and for investigating the developmental origins of respiratory disease. The transcriptional profiles generated for lung development in three inbred strains of the laboratory mouse revealed concordance with pre-natal stages of lung development defined by anatomy and morphology. The genomic data support the view that the postnatal alveolar development is composed of 4 distinct molecular stages. The data revealed strain specific differences in the expression of genes related to respiratory cell differentiation, pulmonary innervation, metabolic pathway interactions, and immune system function. Mouse lungs or whole embryos (e09.5 only) were surgically dissected at 26 time points across all six canonical stages of lung development (embryonic-EMB, pseudoglandular-PSG, canalicular-CAN, saccular-SAC, alveolar-ALV, homeostatic-HOM) to identify transcriptional profiles associated with 9 molecular divisions of lung development (embryonic-EMB, pseudoglandular-PSG, canalicular-CAN, saccular-SAC, alveolar1-ALV1, alveolar2-ALV2, alveolar3-ALV3, alveolar4-ALV4, homeostatic-HOM). Lung tissue from three or four embryos collected at e11.5 or e12.5, respectively, was pooled for each sample to obtain sufficient RNA for array analysis. Tissue from at least three animals was collected for each time point (biological replicates). Only male mice were used in the study.