Developmental gene expression differences between neonatal and adult mouse atria and ventricles. Mus musculus

We study the role of glycosylation in ion channel function. Specfically, we are focusing on how ion channel glycosylation modulates, controls, and impacts cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuronal electrical activity. We wish to determine differences in gene expression through development and between the atria and ventricles of the mouse heart. Our data indicate differential sialylation directly affects voltage-gated sodium channel function through the developing heart in a chamber-specific manner. We wish to expand our findings to include other ion channels involved in the cardiac action potential, and to eventually create a map of the cardiac conduction system that details the role of differential glycosylation in cardiac excitability. Determining differential expression of the genes that regulate ion channel glycosylation is vital to these goals. Overall design: We analyzed four sets of pooled RNA to be run in triplicate: one each from neonatal and adult mouse atria and ventricles.