Identification of candidate genes involved in SOD1G93A glial toxicity

To better understand how the expression of a mutant gene that causes ALS can perturb the normal phenotype of astrocytes, and to identify genes that may have a role in their toxic effect on motor neurons, we used oligonucleotide arrays to compare the global gene expression profiles of glia overexpressing the mutant SOD1G93A protein with two different sets of controls: non-transgenic glia and glia overexpressing the wild type form of the human SOD1 protein (P<0.001) . Glia were derived from P1-P3 mouse pups transgenic for SOD1G93A (G93A), SOD1WT (WT) or non-transgenic pups (NT). Once the cells reached confluence, total RNA was isolated using Trizol (Invitrogen) from three different biological replicates for each type of glia. RNA was amplified by one round of T7 transcription using the Illumina TotalPrep RNA Amplification Kit. Illumina Bead Array Reader. Analysis was done using the Illumina Bead Studio Program.