mRNA-seq with Agnostic Splice Site Discovery for CNS Transcriptomics Tested in Chronic Pain

The study pursued dual goals: To advance mRNA-seq bioinformatics towards unbiased transcriptome capture and to demonstrate its potential for discovery in neuroscience by applying the approach to an in vivo model of neurological disease. We found that 12.4% of known genes were induced and 7% were suppressed in the dysfunctional (but anatomically intact) L4 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) 2 weeks after L5 spinal Nerve Ligation (SNL). A new algorithm for agnostic mapping of pre-mRNA splice junctions (SJ) achieved a precision of 97%. mRNA-seq of L4 DRG 2 weeks and 2 months after L5 spinal nerve ligation. CONTROL and SNL were used to identify differential gene expression between chronic pain and standard conditions in Rattus norvegicus. CONTROL and SNL and PILOT were used to perform 'agnostic splice site discovery' in the nervous system transcriptome in Rattus norvegicus