Comparative analysis of genome-wide gene expression profiles in heart, liver, spleen, ears and bone marrow in the murine strains of MRL/MpJ, C57B/6J, and Balb/C

The MRL/MpJ mouse strain is known as a model of mammalian regeneration. The strain exhibits an unusual capacity in regenerative wound healing manifested by scarless ear-hole closure and enhanced regeneration response reported in other organs. A significant feature of the strain is that the adult MRL/MpJ mouse retains several embryonic biochemical characteristics, including increased expression of stem cell markers. As the regenerative response after injury is rather limited in mammals the MRL/MpJ mouse is a great model to study the molecular and cellular basis of scarless wound healing. We report here the analysis of genome-wide transcriptomic profiles in the heart, ear, spleen, liver and bone marrow of the MRL/MpJ mouse. We used gene expression microarray, which interrogates 44.170 of mouse transcripts, in order to identify the genes exhibiting remarkable differences in expression in the MRL/MpJ mouse compared to two reference strains: C57BL/6J and BALB/c. The comparison revealed hundreds of differentially expressed transcripts. Significant enrichments of genes engaged in retinol metabolism, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), wound healing, and homeobox pathways distinguishes the differentially expressed transcripts up-regulated in the MRL/MpJ mouse, whereas the genes related to immune response, including including response to wounding are greatly enriched among those down-regulated. The same functional categories were associated with remarkable parallels between the transcriptomic patterns in murine neonates and the adult MRL/MpJ mouse. 15 samples, each sample is a poll representing three animals