Figure 6: Differential expression of mTOR associated genes characterise femur and TBT elements at E15.
From: Limb proportions show developmental plasticity in response to embryo movement
(a) Upon analysis of E15 femur versus TBT (SAMR analysis), it was noted that 59 genes were differentially regulated between these limbs. These included ‘structural constituent of ribosome’ (p < 1E-08) and metabolic genes. Ingenuity up-stream analysis of this gene-list noted that less mTOR activity (p < 1E-09) was predicted in the femur, compared with the TBT (i.e. rapamycin being the inhibitor of mTOR) based on analysis of 54/59 genes in the database. mTOR regulated genes, shown in blue, are expressed at a lower level in E15 femur than E15 TBT. (b) The expression of these mTOR regulated genes was not significantly different between limbs at E12/13. Note that SLC38A3 expression is omitted from this graph due to its disproportionately higher expression level in the femur obscuring the other gene expression values. (c) Expression of the mTOR associated genes in the femur and TBT in growth cartilage in control and immobilised chicks. Expression patterns of these mTOR associated genes were unaltered by immobilisation. Femur data are in red and TBT in blue. Horizontal lines indicate mean expression values for all genes (n = 2–3 at each time point).
