A family of nonclassical class I MHC genes contributes to ultrasensitive chemodetection by mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons

We applied the NanoString gene expression platform to total RNA isolated from the vomeronasal mucosa of mice of a strain (∆H2Mv) in which we had excised with chromosome engineering a 530 kb genomic region that encompasses nine non-classical class I MHC genes that are expressed specifically in vomeronasal sensory neurons. At three weeks of age, there is no difference of expression for all Vmn2r genes tested; and at eight weeks of age, there is no difference of expression for the majority of Vmn2r genes. We designed NanoString probes for one third of the mouse Vmn2r gene repertoire, based on the reference C57BL/6 genome sequence. CodeSet Chanel includes probes for 46 Vmn2r genes and nine non-classical class I MHC H2-Mv genes that are expressed specifically in mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons. Results were analyzed with tTREAT.

本研究采用NanoString基因表达平台（NanoString gene expression platform），对ΔH2Mv品系小鼠犁鼻黏膜（vomeronasal mucosa）提取的总RNA进行检测；该品系小鼠通过染色体工程技术敲除了一段长度为530kb的基因组区域，该区域包含9个特异性表达于犁鼻感觉神经元的非经典I型主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）基因。在小鼠3周龄时，所有检测的Vmn2r基因的表达水平均无差异；而在8周龄时，多数Vmn2r基因的表达水平无明显差异。本研究基于C57BL/6参考基因组序列，为小鼠Vmn2r基因家族的三分之一设计了NanoString探针。CodeSet Chanel包含针对46个Vmn2r基因以及9个特异性表达于小鼠犁鼻感觉神经元的非经典I型MHC H2-Mv基因的探针。实验结果采用tTREAT分析工具进行分析。