PMID- 25530357 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20150402 LR - 20181113 IS - 1096-0007 (Electronic) IS - 0014-4835 (Print) IS - 0014-4835 (Linking) VI - 131 DP - 2015 Feb TI - Molecular characterization of mouse lens epithelial cell lines and their suitability to study RNA granules and cataract associated genes. PG - 42-55 LID - S0014-4835(14)00334-0 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.exer.2014.12.011 [doi] AB - The discovery of cytosolic RNA granule (RG) component proteins associated with human cataract has initiated investigations on post-transcriptional mechanisms of gene expression control in the lens. Application of established mouse lens epithelial cell lines (LECs) can provide rapid insights on RG function in lens cells, especially because mouse mutants in several RG components are not available. However, although these LECs represent potential reagents for such analyses, they are uncharacterized for lens gene expression or RG formation. Therefore, a detailed molecular and cellular characterization of three permanent mouse LECs 17EM15, 21EM15 and alphaTN4 is performed in this study. Comparative analysis between microarray gene expression datasets on LEC 21EM15 and iSyTE lens tissue demonstrates that 30% of top 200 iSyTE identified lens-enriched genes are expressed in these cells. Majority of these candidates are independently validated to either have lens expression, function or linkage to cataract. Moreover, analysis of microarray data with genes described in Cat-Map, an online database of cataract associated genes and loci, demonstrates that 131 genes linked to cataract loci are expressed in 21EM15 cells. Furthermore, gene expression in LECs is compared to isolated lens epithelium or fiber cells by qRT-PCR and by comparative analyses with publically available epithelium or fiber-specific microarray and RNA-seq (sequencing) datasets. Expression of select candidate genes was validated by regular and real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Expression of lens epithelium-enriched genes Foxe3, Pax6, Anxa4 and Mcm4 is up-regulated in LEC lines, compared to isolated lens fiber cells. Moreover, similar to isolated lens epithelium, all three LECs exhibit down-regulation of fiber cell-expressed genes Crybb1, Mip and Prox1 when compared to fiber cells. These data indicate that the LEC lines exhibit greater similarity to lens epithelium than to fiber cells. Compared to non-lens cell line NIH3T3, LECs exhibit significantly enriched expression of transcription factors with important function in the lens, namely Pax6, Foxe3 and Prox1. In addition to these genes, all three LECs also express key lens- and cataract-associated genes, namely Dkk3, Epha2, Hsf4, Jag1, Mab21l1, Meis1, Pknox1, Pou2f1, Sfrp1, Sparc, Tdrd7 and Trpm3. Additionally, 21EM15 microarrays indicate expression of Chmp4b, Cryab and Tcfap2a among others important genes. Immunostaining with makers for Processing bodies (P-bodies) and Stress granules (SGs) demonstrates that these classes of RGs are robustly expressed in all three LECs. Moreover, under conditions of stress, 17EM15 and alphaTN4 exhibit significantly higher numbers of P-bodies and SGs compared to NIH3T3 cells. In sum, these data indicate that mouse LECs 21EM15, 17EM15 and alphaTN4 express key lens or cataract genes, are similar to lens epithelium than fiber cells, and exhibit high levels of P-bodies and SGs, indicating their suitability for investigating gene expression control and RG function in lens-derived cells. CI - Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. FAU - Terrell, Anne M AU - Terrell AM AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Anand, Deepti AU - Anand D AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Smith, Sylvie F AU - Smith SF AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Dang, Christine A AU - Dang CA AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Waters, Stephanie M AU - Waters SM AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Pathania, Mallika AU - Pathania M AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. FAU - Beebe, David C AU - Beebe DC AD - Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA. FAU - Lachke, Salil A AU - Lachke SA AD - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA; Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. Electronic address: salil@udel.edu. LA - eng GR - P20 GM103446/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States GR - R01 EY021505/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural DEP - 20141219 PL - England TA - Exp Eye Res JT - Experimental eye research JID - 0370707 RN - 0 (Eye Proteins) RN - 0 (RNA, Messenger) SB - IM MH - Animals MH - Cataract/*genetics/metabolism/pathology MH - Disease Models, Animal MH - Epithelial Cells/*metabolism/pathology MH - Eye Proteins/biosynthesis/*genetics MH - *Gene Expression Regulation MH - Humans MH - Lens, Crystalline/*metabolism/pathology MH - Mice MH - NIH 3T3 Cells MH - RNA, Messenger/*genetics MH - Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction PMC - PMC4387128 MID - NIHMS652050 OTO - NOTNLM OT - 17EM15 OT - 21EM15 OT - Cataract genes OT - Lens OT - Processing body OT - Stress granules OT - iSyTE OT - alphaTN4 EDAT- 2014/12/23 06:00 MHDA- 2015/04/04 06:00 PMCR- 2016/02/01 CRDT- 2014/12/23 06:00 PHST- 2014/09/11 00:00 [received] PHST- 2014/12/02 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2014/12/18 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2014/12/23 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2014/12/23 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2015/04/04 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2016/02/01 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - S0014-4835(14)00334-0 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.exer.2014.12.011 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Exp Eye Res. 2015 Feb;131:42-55. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2014.12.011. Epub 2014 Dec 19.