Expression data from zebrafish pineal gland

Microarray data allowed detection of genes that are highly expressed in the pineal gland. Keywords: tissue expression pattern Adult Tg(aanat2:EGFP)Y8 transgenic zebrafish in which EGFP marks the pineal gland were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Fish were anesthetized in 1.5 mM Tricane (Sigma) and sacrificed by decapitation, and pineal glands were removed under a fluorescent dissecting microscope. Since the pineal gland is a clock-containing organ and levels of certain transcripts may vary throughout the circadian cycle, glands were collected throughout the 24-hr cycle at 4 hr intervals. During the 24-hr cycle the fish were either maintained in a 12-h light/12-h dark cycle (LD) or kept in constant darkness (DD). 12 pineal glands were collected and pooled at each time point at each light condition, and total RNA was extracted (RNeasy, Qiagen).