The developmental liver transcriptome of Rattus norvegicus

Abstract

Our research is involved in the transcriptional dynamics of perinatal liver development. The transcription factors and their downstream effects have been well studied in regards to early liver development, yet perinatal liver development is much less well understood. In an attempt to investigate this area of research, we developed a time course experiment including both pre- and postnatal liver samples whereby RNA sequencing was performed on each of the biological stages. We investigated such areas as gene expression, isoform expression, transcriptional regulation, and post-transcriptional modifications of transcribed molecules. Furthermore, we used a bioinformatics approach to improve upon the reference annotation for known genes. Our research gives insight to the biological phenomenon of late gestational and post parturition liver development. Additionally, we provided annotation for over 1000 regions in the rat reference genome. Further work will include an attempt to investigate novel transcript and gene discovery, as well as an attempt to characterize the extent of RNA editing in perinatal liver development.