IDENTIFICATION OF A NEW NORADRENALINE-INDUCED GENE IN THE RAT-HEART BY DIFFERENTIAL MESSENGER-RNA DISPLAY

Objective: Noradrenaline treatment of animals results in postnatal hyp ertrophy of the heart. This process requires many qualitative and quan titative changes in gene expression; however, the identities of the ke y regulatory genes which modulate the process are not known. The aim o f this study was to investigate whether a recently developed technique , differential display, could provide a new route to the identificatio n and characterisation of these critical genes. Methods: The technique of differential display was modified for use on cardiac RNA samples a nd the expression of clones identified by this approach was characteri sed by northern analysis. Results: Differential display was successful ly adapted to the study of noradrenaline induced cardiac gene expressi on. A previously unsuspected gene was identified, the expression of wh ich appears to be strongly modified during the onset of this process. Conclusions: Differential display offers the potential to identify and clone many of the genes critically important in regulation of growth of the mammalian heart.