RNA-seq analysis of the first mandibular molars from K14-Cre; Wnt10aflox/flox mice and littermate control

Wnt ligands are continuously expressed during tooth development and are essential for cell proliferation; therefore, we hypothesized that other Wnt ligands may be up-regulated to compensate the loss of Wnt10a. To test this hypothesis, we investigated mRNA expression levels in the first mandibular molars at PN4 by RNA-seq analysis. A list of 26 Wnt pathway associated genes were identified to be expressed differently in K14-Cre;Wnt10aflox/flox mice. Among them, 7 genes were up-regulated and 19 genes were down-regulated. And the up-regulation of Wnt4 appeared to be the most significant. Moreover, heat map displayed that among the Wnt ligands with relatively high endogenous expression level, Wnt4 was up-regulated in K14-Cre;Wnt10aflox/flox mice than in control. mRNA profiles of 4-day old wild type (Wnt10aflox/flox) and K14-Cre; Wnt10aflox/flox mice were generated by RNA sequencing, in triplicate, using BGISEQ-500.