RNA-Seq of human fetal hearts at 9, 12 and 16 weeks of gestation

RNA-Seq was used to study alterations in gene expression in the developing human heart across three gestational ages in the first and early second trimester. All tissue was acquired following elective termination of pregnancy and informed parental consent. Storage and use of tissue was in premises licensed by the 2004 Human Tissues Act (UK) and all protocols had ethical committee approval. All samples were found to be morphologically normal during regular checks with the midwife and upon medical termination of pregnancy as certified by the physician. RNA was extracted using BioRad Aurum Total RNA Fatty and Fibrous Tissue Kit (cat no. 732-6830) following manufacturers instructions. Illumina compatible barcoded mRNA sequencing libraries were made from 100 ng of total RNA after polyA selection for mature mRNAs using the TruSeq Stranded mRNA Sample Preparation Kit's high sample protocol (Illumina). Sequencing was performed on a single HiSeq 3000 150 bp paired end lane with the data exported as a pair of fastq formatted data files for each sample. Sample quality was assessed prior to sequencing.