Investigating the role of cell adhesion molecule alpha-catenin during islet development

Purpose: Alpha catenin mediates cell-cell adhesion through the cadherin-catenin complex. It is important to maintain cell-cell adhesion and tissue organization. In this study we explore how cell-cell adhesion mediated by alpha catenin regulates islet aggregation and analyze the gene expression profiling related with islet adhesion, structure and function. Methods: We selective ablate alpha catenin (Ctnna1) in endocrine cells of murine pancreas. Total RNA was extracted from pancreatic islets isolated from 8 weeks old mice of Ngn3-Cre; Ctnna1flox/flox and Wild-type controls. There were four animals for each group. Results: We mapped about 60 million sequence reads per mouse sample. Our results showed that 245 genes were upregulated and 74 were downregulated by alpha catenin ablation. Conclusions: Our results indicate that alpha catenin is required for normal islet aggregation and cellular composition. Pancreas mRNA profiles of 8-weeks old wild type (WT) and Ngn3-Cre; Ctnna1 flox/flox mice