Expression data from Hand2 mutant mouse embryos

Acquisition of the lower jaw (mandible) was evolutionarily important for jawed vertebrates. In humans, syndromic craniofacial malformations often accompany jaw anomalies. Hand2 is involved in coordinating the developmental network of mandibles and the oral apparatus through Hand2-downstream genes and is therefore a major determinant of jaw identity. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression involved in mandible specification and identified distinct classes of up-regulated genes during this process. Wild-type and Hand2 mutant (Hand2 CAT/+; Wnt1-Cre) embryos were collected at Embryonic day (E) 11.5 or E12.5 for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.