Gene expression comparison of liver tissue from C57BL/6J and KK/HIJ mice

A QTL intercross was performed bewteen C57BL/6J and KK/HIL for albuminurea, asthma and cardiovascular related phenotypes. Several QTL were identified for most phenotypes. We performed microarray analysis from liver samples to identify genes differentially expressed between the parental strains. The results helped us narrow down the QTL and identify the candidate genes based on differential expression between the parental strains. At 8 weeks of age, the large lobe of the liver from 3 male and 3 females C57BL/6J and KK/HIJ (12 mice total) was collected. The mice were separated individuallly for 3 days and fasted for 4 hours prior to the tissue collection. The mice were sacrificed by cervically dislocation and perfused with PBS prior to the liver collection.