Nascent mRNA profiling of LPS-stimulated mouse macrophages

To identify transcriptionally regulated genes in primary mouse macrophages stimulated with LPS with high sensitivity, we isolated nascent RNA following metabolic labelling with 4-thiouridine during the last 35 min before cell harvest, as recently described (Dolken et al. 2008 RNA 14:1959-72). Microarray analyses of nascent RNA identified substantially more probe sets as up-regulated after 45 min of LPS stimulation than parallel analyses of total cellular RNA. In contrast, 4.5 h after stimulation, up-regulated genes in total and nascent RNA largely overlapped. This approach therefore allowed a much more sensitive detection of early changes in transcription, and the respective genes are likely to be direct targets of LPS-regulated transcription factors.

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Weintz G, Olsen JV, Frühauf K, Niedzielska M, Amit I, Jantsch J, Mages J, Frech C, Dölken L, Mann M, Lang R