Identifying tissue-enriched gene expression in mouse tissues using the NIH UniGene database.

There is considerable interest in the gene expression profiles that underpin the phenotypes of cells and tissues. We have developed Bioperl scripts for mining the National Institutes of Health (NIH) UniGene databases to identify this tissue-enriched gene expression. UniGene imports expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the NIH dbEST database and clusters them by searching for sequence matches.

Gene expression in the mouse preimplantation embryo.

Mouse preimplantation development represents a tightly controlled programme of gene expression and cell division, which starts with the fertilized egg and ends with implantation of the blastocyst approximately 4.5 days later. Spatial and temporal differences in gene expression underpin establishment of axes at the two-cell stage and development of the trophectoderm and inner cell mass after embryo compaction at the eight-cell stage.