Expression data from splenic B-cells isolated from DmU50(HG-b) mice or wild-type C57BL/6J

Box C/D-type small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are functional RNAs responsible for mediating 2’-O-ribose methylation of ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) within the nucleolus. Previously, in relation to a novel chromosomal translocation in a human B-cell lymphoma, we identified U50HG, a non-protein-coding gene that hosted a box C/D-type U50 snoRNA within its intron. To investigate the physiological importance of the U50 snoRNA and its involvement in tumorigenesis, we generated a mouse model deficient in mouse U50 (mU50) snoRNA expression without altering the expression of mouse mU50 host-gene, mU50HG-b. The established mU50 snoRNA-deficient mice showed a significant reduction of mU50 snoRNA expression and the corresponding target rRNA methylation in various organs. Lifelong phenotypic monitoring showed that the mU50-deficient mice looked almost normal without accelerated tumorigenicity; however, a notable difference was the propensity for anomalies in the lymphoid organs. B-cells were isolated from spleens of DmU50(HG-b) mice or wild-type C57BL/6J with antibody-conjugated magnetic beads system (Myltenyi Biotec). Total RNA was purified with QIAGEN RNeasy Micro kit. Affymetrix GeneChip® Microarrays (Mouse Expression 430 2.0 Array) were used.