Identifying genes enriched for expression in osteocytes: transcriptome sequencing mouse bone with and without bone marrow.

There are three main cell types associated with the skeleton, osteoblasts that bone build, osteoclasts that resorb bone and the osteocytes which among other things control the action of these other effector cell types. In this experiment we compare transcriptome data from bone samples enriched for osteocytes (by removing soft tissue and marrow) and bone samples with the soft tissue removed but the marrow left intact. This identifies genes that are enriched for data when we enrich for osteocytes - highlighting genes enriched for expression in this pivotal skeletal cell type.