Distinct roles of Hand2 in developing and adult autonomic neurons

Purpose: Analyze the function of the transcription factors Hand2 and Gata3 in adult sympathetic neurons by induced knockout and RNAseq analysis Overall design: Method and Result: Hand2flx/del::DbhCreERT2 (referred to as mutant) and Hand2flx/+::DbhCreERT2 (referred to a control) were injected for 10 days with tamoxifen to activate Cre. Animals were killed, sympathetic ganglia (SCG+Stellate) collected and processed for RNA isolation and RNAseq (Stanzel et al., 2016). Gata3flx/flx::DbhCerERT2 (mutant) and Gata3flx/+::DbhCreERT2 (controls) were treated as Hand2 animals. 16 ganglia from 4 mice were pooled for Hand2 mutant and controls and Gata3 controls. As only rudimentary ganglia were present in Gata3 mutant mice (Tsarovina et al., 2010) ganglia from 8 mice were pooled. The specific effects of the Hand2 knockout are decribed in Stanzel et al., 2016. The analysis of ganglion rudiments in the Gata3 knockout revealed that Gata3 was not reduced, indicating that the remaining cells had escaped the knockout.