Study of miRNAs function in basal progenitors during cortical neurogenesis

During cortical development neurons are generated sequentially from basal progenitors (BPs) which specifically express the transcription factor Tbr2. We used fluorescent-activaed cell sorting (FACS) to isolate BPs from Tbr2GFP knockin reporter mice (Arnold SJ et al. Genesis, 2009) at early (embryonic day, E13) and late (embryonic day, E16) stages of cortical neurogenesis and determined miRNA expression profiles using mouse miRNA microarray (Agilent).Comparison of E13 and E16 microRNA expression profiles allowed us to identify regulatory mechanisms for maintaining stage specific homeostasis of BPs. FACS isolated BPs at E13 and E16 mouse brain cortex were used for miRNA microarray analyses. Four biological replicates (embryonic cortex from three different litters) for each group (E13 or E16) were analysed.