%0 Journal Article
%T Analysis of the dynamics of limb transcriptomes during mouse development
%A Istvan Gyurj¨˘n
%A Bernhard Sonderegger
%A Felix Naef
%A Denis Duboule
%J BMC Developmental Biology
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-213x-11-47
%X As a reference resource for future biochemical and genetic analyses, we used genome-wide tiling arrays to establish the transcriptomes of mouse limb buds at three different stages, during which major developmental events take place. We compare the three time-points and discuss some aspects of these datasets, for instance related to transcriptome dynamics or to the potential association between active genes and the distribution of intergenic transcriptional activity.These datasets provide a valuable resource, either for research projects involving gene expression and regulation in developing mouse limbs, or as examples of tissue-specific, genome-wide transcriptional activities.Limb development has fascinated biologists for a century, mostly because of the importance of these structures in the evolution of land vertebrates and due to their spectacular morphological diversity. From an experimental viewpoint, limbs are quite easily accessible at various stages of their ontogenesis and can thus be manipulated, to some extent. Genetically speaking, limb phenotypes can be easily detected and usually do not impair survival too strongly. For all these reasons, limbs have been excellent model structures to study vertebrate patterning and morphogenesis.Tetrapods limbs bud out from the lateral plate mesoderm and establish early on the bases of a three-dimensional pattern. The growth along the proximo-distal axis largely depends on FGFs signaling emanating from the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) and acting over the mesenchyme. On the other hand, the anterior to posterior (AP) axis is specified essentially by Hand2, the Shh pathway and posterior Hoxd genes. Amongst the known regulators of the dorso-ventral (DV) patterning are Wnt7a, expressed in dorsal ectoderm, and Engrailed, in ventral ectoderm, as well as Lmxb1, a gene transcribed in dorsal mesenchyme. These signaling cascades act together in a highly coordinated manner [1-3].At later stages of development, e.g. starting from E
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-213X/11/47