Identification of Nkx6.1 regulated genes in mature pancreatic islets.. Mus musculus

Nkx6.1 target genes were identified in mature pancreatic islets by comparing gene expression in conditional Nkx6.1-ablated islets versus control islets using microarray analysis. Overall design: Nkx6.1 was conditionally ablated in mature pancreatic islets by recombination of a Nkx6.1-flox allele using the tamoxifen-inducible Pdx1-CreERTM allele (Gu et al 2002). Mice were injected with 2 mg/25 g tamoxifen in corn oil four times between 4 and 6 weeks of age. Islets were isolated after the final tamoxifen injection. Total RNA was isolated and pooled from pancreata of 6 week old Nkx6.1fl/-;Pdx1-CreERTM (mutant) versus Nkx6.1fl/+;Pdx1-CreERTM (control) littermates for 3 biological replicates.