Expression data from Amacr knock-out mouse intestine

Bile acids play multiple roles in vertebrate metabolism by facilitating lipid absorption in the intestine and acting as a signaling molecule in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Bile acids are also the main route to excrete excess cholesterol out of the body. Alpha-methyl-Coa racemase (Amacr) is one of the enzymes needed to produce bile acids from cholesterol. The mouse model lacking Amacr can produce only minor (less than 10%) amounts of bile acids, but still they are symptomless in normal laboratory conditions. Cholesterol absorption occurs in the jejunum part of the intestine. In this experiment, the intestines from Amacr-/- and wild-type mice were divided into four equal segments and the endothelial layer was collected by scraping. The RNA from these samples was isolated and the gene expression levels in each segment were compared. 3 biological replicates per genotype/segment combination.