Pilot study to identify technical variation in microarray data of mouse lungs in the context of inter-animal variation

Prior to generation of microarray data for a Top-down Systems analysis of influenza A infection, we evaluated the degree and origin of technical variation in gene expression microarray data from mouse lungs and compared this to inter-animal variation. Technical variation in these microarray data in the context of inter-animal variation supported a choice of biological rather than technical replicates. A) One mouse (260) was infected with 0.6LD50 of the mouse pathogenic H1N1 strain PR8. Lung tissues were collected at 72h post infection and processed to yield whole lung RNA that was used for microarray analysis. The RNA was extracted in 3 individual batches (I, II, III), each batch of RNA was amplified in 2 separate batches (1,2), and the individual batches of amplified product were again hybridized in 2 batches. This dataset contains 18 microarrays covering 1 experimental condition with 1 biological replicate and a matrix of technical replicates. B) 3 mice (245, 246, 247) were infected with 0.6LD50 of the mouse pathogenic H1N1 strain PR8. Lung tissues were collected at 72h post infection and processed to yield whole lung RNA that was used for microarray analysis. From each animal, RNA was extracted, the RNA was amplified in three separate batches (A, B, C), and the individual batches of amplified product were again hybridized in 2 batches. This dataset contains 24 microarrays covering 1 experimental condition with 3 biological replicates and a matrix of technical replicates. Datasets A) and B) are linked to two biological datasets - one comparing the transcriptomes of 5 different cell types isolated from individual lungs of influenza A-infected or control animals (contains 75 microarrays covering 25 experimental conditions) and one comprising whole lung microarrays from sham-infected or influenza H1N1-infected animals (contains 138 microarrays, 19 experimental conditions, 7 biological replicates).