Dynamic transcriptional changes of TIEG1 and TIEG2 during mouse tissue development

TGF-beta-inducible early-response gene (TIEG) is a family of primary response genes induced by TGF-beta, which are well recognized in regulating cellular proliferation and apoptosis. However, their expression profile has never been investigated during embryogenesis in different organs. In this study, we aimed to investigate the transcriptional level of both TIEG1 and TIEG2 during development in various mice organs, including the brain cortex, cerebellum and stem, brain striatum, muscle, heart, liver, kidney, and lung. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to profile the change of transcriptional level of the two TIEG members in the mice tissues at six developmental stages. Taken together, the expression of TIEG1 and TIEG2 was specific in different organs yet varied with different developmental time points. Their dynamic changes were moderately consistent in most organs including the brain cortex, striatum, liver, kidney, and lung. However, their mRNA expression in both the heart and muscle was significantly different at all developmental stages, which might propose a compensation of functions in the TIEG family. Nevertheless, our data indicate that both the TIEG genes are essential in regulating the normal organ development and functioning in murine model, as their expressions were ubiquitous and tissue specific at various developmental stages.