Dual role for the methyltransferase G9a in the maintenance of ß-globin gene expression

MEL clone 745 cells that are blocked at the pro-erythroblast stage serve as a model for terminal erythroid differentiation when treated with DMSO. A stable MEL cell line expressing (Dox)-dependent shRNA sequence targeting different regions of G9a mRNA was established and screened as previously described in (Demers, 2007 PMID17707229). Knock down was induced by adding 5 micrograms/ml final of Dox in the culture medium. For a total of six samples, 10 micro grams of RNA was extracted from each three biological replicates of mouse erythroleukemia (MEL) cells and their corresponding G9a knock downs. The RNA was extracted and purified using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) including the on-column DNAse I digestion step. Mouse erythroleukemia cells: wild type vs G9 knock down. For each microarray hybridization, data analysis was performed using MAS and GCRMA.