Gene expression profiling of mouse epidermal keratinocytes

DNA microarray technology is a powerfull tool for genome-wide gene expression analysis of biological samples. Here we review the methodology for expression profiling analysis of skin tissue or purified keratinocytes from mice. We explained the methodology and protocols for RNA preservation and purification, RNA quality and integrity tests, and DNA microarray technology types that can be used. Furthermore, using a dataset of mice samples, we explained how to perform chip raw data preprocessing and normalization, differential expression analysis, as well as gene-clustering and funcional analysis of gene deregulation. Keywords: comparison skin tissue versus primary keratinocytes We performed a comparison between tissue and cultured, extracting the genes and gene family functions that characterize the differences between both type of samples. Similarly, we compared gene expression patterns that distinguish samples from newborn mice relative to adult animals.