Gene expression profiling of Myf5-Cre;Smad4flox/flox mouse models of tongue development

We investigated Smad4-mediated TGF-beta signaling in the development of occipital somite-derived myogenic progenitors during tongue morphogenesis by comparing the transcriptomes of tongue derived from Myf5-Cre;Smad4flox/flox mutant and Myf5-Cre;Smad4flox/+ control mice at day E13.5. Based on gene expression profiles and functional studies, we elucidated the influences Smad4 activity and TGF-beta signaling have on the gene expression profiles underlying tongue development. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that TGF-beta-Smad4-FGF6 signaling cascade plays a crucial role in myogenic cell fate determination and lineage progression during tongue myogenesis. We obtained RNA samples from tongue tissues of mutant and control mouse embryos (C57BL/6J) at day E13.5 RNA and subjected them to analysis on Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Arrays.