Hearts from AE3-null mice - RNA-Seq. Mus musculus

The AE3 (Slc4a3) Cl/HCO3 exchanger is highly abundant in heart, but its function is not known. To assess its function we performed RNA Seq analysis of mRNA from hearts of AE3-null and wild-type mice. The patterns of differential gene expression indicate mild hypoxia, enhanced glucose metabolism, and reduced fatty acid metabolism in cardiac myocytes, which is consistent with the hypothesis that HCO3 extrusion by AE3 plays a role in carbon dioxide disposal. Overall design: Total RNA was isolated from hearts of 4-month-old FVB/N wild-type and AE3-null male mice (n = 4 of each genotype). Samples were subjected to RNA Seq analysis using the Illumina HiSeq 1000 platform. Sequence reads were aligned to the reference mouse genome using TopHat aligner and statistical analysis to identify differentially expressed genes was performed using the negative-binomial model of read counts. Differential expression data, expressed as RPKM values, were analyzed using the GOrilla gene ontology program. Significantly affected GO categories were grouped according to function and additional genes relevant to the significant GO categories were identified using the PubMatrix literature search analysis program.