Gene expression changes in GADD45 deficient 2-cell mouse embryos

To study the role of GADD45 proteins in early mouse development, RNA-seq expression profiling was performed with Gadd45a/Gadd45b double knockout (DKO) and wild-type (WT) mouse embryos at 2-cell stage (2C). Gadd45a and Gadd45b knock-out mice (Gupta et al. 2005; Hollander et al. 1999) were interbred to obtain double heterozygous mice, which were further crossed to generate Gadd45a/Gadd45b double mutants (DKO). For RNA-sequencing, 2-cell stage embryos were collected from 3-4 week old wild-type and DKO super-ovulated and naturally fertilized females 20 h after the appearance of the vaginal plug. Between 23 and 35 embryos derived from the same litter were pooled into one biological sample (n=4 per genotype).