Bulk sequencing of MYCN-overexpressing chicken retinal cell lines

Background: MYCN gene is a transcription factor whose amplification and overexpression can lead to tumorigenesis. In retina, MYCN overexpression is related to tumorigenesis of retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer. Purpose: To find out differentially expressed genes in MYCN-overexpressing cells, which will give information of MYCN-related gene expression and possibly find out new pathways in mechanism of retinoblastoma tumorigenesis with MYCN overexpression. Methods: MYCN-overexpressing cells were taken from MYCN electroporated E14 chicken retina and kept in culture for over 4 weeks. Unelectroporated E14 chicken retina central region was dissected as a control. Total RNA was extracted and sequenced on Illumina NovaSeq 6000. The data were used for differential expression analysis and GO/Pathway enrichment analysis. Results: Genes related to proliferation were upregulated in MYCN-overexpressing cells, while genes related to neural differentiation were downregulated. GO/Pathway enrichment analysis showed that upregulated genes were enriched for pathways associated with cell proliferation and downregulated genes for neural differentiation. RNA sequencing of three biological replicates of MYCN-overexpressing cell lines in long-term culture and with three replicates of E14 dissected chicken retinas as control