Tlx (nr2e1)-dependent gene expression in adult neural stem cells. Mus musculus

Tlx (nr2e1) is an orphan nuclear receptor that is highly expressed in proliferating neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult mouse forebrain. The goal was to identify Tlx-regulated genes in this specific cell population. Two populations of Tlx-positive neural stem cells were isolated from 2-month-old male mice based on a LacZ marker that was knocked into the Tlx locus. The first population, Tlx(f/Z;CreER), contains a floxed allele of Tlx (f), the LacZ marker (Z), and a CreER fusion transgene. Addition of tamoxifen (4OH-tamoxifen) into this NSC population leads to Cre-mediated deletion of the floxed allele of Tlx. The second NSC population, Tlx(f/Z), does not contain a CreER transgene; thus it does not respond to tamoxifen treatment and was used as a control. Keywords: Nuclear receptor-dependent gene expression Overall design: Total RNA samples from two biological replicates were collected at 36 hr or at 60 hr after tamoxifen or vehicle treatment. Total of 16 samples were used to analyze the global gene expression changes using Affymetrix chips.