Identification of SoxC-regulated genes during neurogenesis in the developing spinal cord [chicken]

The HMG-domain containing SoxC transcription factors Sox4 and Sox11 are expressed in the vertebrate central nervous system in neuronal precursors and neuroblasts. They are required during early stages of neurogenesis. Here we perform micorarray analysis to identify genes that are downstream of these SoxC proteins during spinal cord neurogenesis in chicken. The identified genes represent potential direct target genes of Sox4 and Sox11. The neural tube of chicken embryos were electroporated at HH9 stage with shRNA expression plasmids . Electroporated cells were obtained by FACS from neural tubes at HH11 and used to prepare total RNA. Overall gene expression patterns were compared between control transfected cells and cells transfected with Sox11- and Sox4-shRNAs using Affymetrix microarrays.