Atlas of Gene Expression in the Developing Kidney at Microanatomic Resolution

Atlas of Gene Expression in the Developing Kidney at Microanatomic Resolution

Eric W. Brunskill, Bruce J. Aronow, Kylie Georgas, Bree Rumballe, M. Todd Valerius, Jeremy Aronow, Vivek Kaimal, Anil G. Jegga, Sean Grimmond, Andrew P. McMahon, Larry T. Patterson, Melissa H. Little and S. Steven Potter

Developmental Cell Volume 15, Issue 5, 11 November 2008, Pages 781-791 doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2008.09.007

Kidney development is based on differential cell-type-specific expression of a vast number of genes. While multiple critical genes and pathways have been elucidated, a genome-wide analysis of gene expression within individual cellular and anatomic structures is lacking. Accomplishing this could provide significant new insights into fundamental developmental mechanisms such as mesenchymal-epithelial transition, inductive signaling, branching morphogenesis, and segmentation. We describe here a comprehensive gene expression atlas of the developing mouse kidney based on the isolation of each major compartment by either laser capture microdissection or fluorescence-activated cell sorting, followed by microarray profiling. The resulting data agree with known expression patterns and additional in situ hybridizations. This kidney atlas allows a comprehensive analysis of the progression of gene expression states during nephrogenesis, as well as discovery of potential growth factor-receptor interactions. In addition, the results provide deeper insight into the genetic regulatory mechanisms of kidney development.