Gene Expression Profile Analysis during Mouse Tooth Development

Introduction: Complex molecular pathways involve in development of different tissues such as teeth. Differential gene expression patterns during teeth development generates different tooth types. Teeth development results from interactions between oral epithelium and underlying ectomesenchyme cells with neural crest origin. Teeth development are regulated by different signaling networks. In this study, we used RNA sequencing to investigate the molecular pathways underlying the development of molar teeth in mice. Methods: In current study, using data from Gene expression omnibus (GEO), we analyzed the transcriptome expression profiles of mouse teeth. A copy of the RNA-Seq raw files was downloaded from GEO and extracted reads were subsequently analyzed using specific software. Differentially expressed genes and molecular pathways during mouse teeth development were extracted. Results: We found that Wnt5a, Slpi, Aox12b, Sprr1a and Crct1 are important differentially expressed genes during mouse molar tooth development. The important molecular pathways differentially expressed during molar development are proteasome, Wnt signaling pathway, gap junction, ERK-MAPK cascade and TNF-alpha NF-kB signaling cascade. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that proteasome pathway, Wnt signaling pathway and TNF-alpha NF-kB signaling cascade activated during early stages of molar teeth development (embryonic day14-16) and gap junction, Notch signaling and ERK-MAPK cascade activated during late stages (embryonic day16-18) of molar teeth development.