A family of nonclassical class I MHC genes contributes to ultrasensitive chemodetection by mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons. Mus musculus

We applied the NanoString gene expression platform to total RNA isolated from the vomeronasal mucosa of mice of a strain (∆H2Mv) in which we had excised with chromosome engineering a 530 kb genomic region that encompasses nine non-classical class I MHC genes that are expressed specifically in vomeronasal sensory neurons. At three weeks of age, there is no difference of expression for all Vmn2r genes tested; and at eight weeks of age, there is no difference of expression for the majority of Vmn2r genes. Overall design: We designed NanoString probes for one third of the mouse Vmn2r gene repertoire, based on the reference C57BL/6 genome sequence. CodeSet Chanel includes probes for 46 Vmn2r genes and nine non-classical class I MHC H2-Mv genes that are expressed specifically in mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons. Results were analyzed with tTREAT.