Expression data (microRNA) from developing Neural Tubes of mouse embryos

Morphogenesis of the mammalian neural tube (NT) is reliant on precise, spatio-temporal expression of numerous genes and coordinated interaction of signal transduction and gene regulatory networks, disruption of which may contribute to the etiology of neural tube defects (NTDs). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as well as their downstream messenger RNA (mRNA) targets are key modulators of cell and tissue differentiation. To define potential roles of miRNAs and mRNAs in development of the murine neural tube (NT), total RNA preparations from gestation day (GD)-8.5, -9.0 and -9.5 (crtitcal period of NT developemnt) mouse embryos were used to hybridize both microRNA arrays and messenger RNA arrays, to identify miRNAs and mRNAs co-expressed in the same developing NT tissue samples. We used total RNA preparations from gestation day (GD)-8.5, -9.0 and -9.5 mouse neural tubes to perform global miRNA- and mRNA gene expression profiling analyses of the developing murine neural tube. We used total RNA preparations (4x biological replicates/sample) from neural tubes of gestation day (GD)-8.5, -9.0 and -9.5 mouse embryos to perform global miRNA- and mRNA gene expression profiling analyses of the developing murine neural tube. One of the objectives of this study is to identify the constitutively and differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs within the developing neural tube. For messenger RNA profiling we used Affymetrix GeneChip® Mouse Genome 430 version 2.0 arrays. For microRNA profiling we used Affymetrix GeneChip® microRNA version 2.0 arrays.