Expression data from euploid and trisomic 13, 18 and 21 human fetal cells

The organization and dynamics of chromatin within the in vivo interphase nucleus and the latter's relationship with transcriptional regulation are still not fully understood. To better understand these relationships, we studied a natural example of chromosomal disorganization: aneuploidy due to trisomies 13, 18 and 21. We hypothesized that the presence of an extra copy of one chromosome alters the CT distribution in the nucleus, which in turn perturbs transcriptional activity. We used microarrays to highlight the overall genome expression changes occurring in amniocytes and fibroblasts carrying a trisomy 13, 18 or 21. Cultured amniocytes and fibroblasts cells were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We used two trisomy 13, two trisomy 18 and nine controls from amniocytes cells; and five trisomy 21 and five controls from chorionic villi (fibroblasts).