The Transcriptional Signature of Growth in Human Fetal Aortic Valve Development

Discarded human aortic valve samples from the second trimester, six from early (14, 15, 17 weeks), and six from late timepoints (20, 21, 22 weeks) were collected. RNA was isolated and cDNA libraries were sequenced. Network analysis of RNASeq data identified subnetworks of significantly increasing and decreasing transcripts; subsequent cluster analysis identified patterns of transcription through the time course. Pathway enrichment analysis determined the predominant biological processes at each interval.