Gene expression in DN4 thymocytes from mice with an inducible deletion of Ikaros

The aim of the experiment was to visualize genes under the control of Ikaros during early T cell development. We used mice carrying floxed Ikaros alleles that were crossed with the Rosa26-CreERT2 mice, and which were injected with tamoxifen for 4 days. DN4 thymocytes were sorted from 4 mice (5-6 week-old) which are positive or not for the Rosa26-CreERT2 transgene. DN4 cells were sorted from 2 Ikf/f Rosa26-CreERT2+ mice and 2 Ikf/f mice, which were all treated with tamoxifen for 4 days. Loss of Ikaros was confirmed in sorted cells from the Ikf/f Rosa26-CreERT2+ mice by western blot. Gene expression profiles were determined on total RNA from sorted cells with Affymetrix Mouse Gene arrays.