O51	Gene expression profiling of human red blood cells.
1S.Kabanova, 1T.Jax, 1S.Balke, 2B.Andrée, 1M.Kelm, 1P.Kleinbongard
1Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Pulmonary Diseases and Angiology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, DE; 2Biologisch-Medizinisches Forschungszentrum, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, DE.

Human erythrocytes lack a nucleus and are considered to be incapable of protein synthesis. Nevertheless these anucleate cells regulate a number of biological functions, which are mediated by gene expression as well as posttranscriptional and posttranslational modifications of proteins. We evaluated, which genes are translated in mature erythrocytes or during late hematopoiesis. Total RNA from red blood cells was isolated, tested using RNA LabChips Kit by 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent, USA) and transcribed to cDNA. Labelling was achieved during linear amplification with BioArray High Yield RNA transcript Labelling Kit (Enzo Life Science, USA). DNA Microarray analysis was performed with the Human Genome Focus GeneChip (Affymetrix, USA), containing 8500 transcripts corresponding to 8400 human genes. Hybridised chips were scanned and analysed with MAS 5.0 and DTM (Affymetrix, USA). Here we report that human red blood cells contain typical eukaryotic RNA with 28S- and18S-rRNA standard bands. Data generated from microarray studies (n=5) allowed us to identify the expression of 1137 genes in RNA of red blood cells. Gene Ontology analysis recognized 936 genes encoding proteins related to general biological processes: 661 genes for cellular metabolism (among them 99 genes for protein biosynthesis), 250 genes for signal transduction (among them 125 genes for intracellular signaling cascade), 122 genes for development, 112 genes for immune response, 71 genes for protein localization, 57 genes for programmed cell death, and 5 genes for autophagy. Our results will provide a basis for studies of molecular mechanisms controlling red blood cell metabolism as well as apoptosis. Gene Ontology analysis recognized 936 genes encoding proteins related to general biological processes: 661 genes for cellular metabolism (among them 99 genes for protein biosynthesis), 250 genes for signal transduction (among them 125 genes for intracellular signaling cascade), 122 genes for development, 112 genes for immune response, 71 genes for protein localization, 57 genes for programmed cell death, and 5 genes for autophagy. Our results will provide a basis for studies of molecular mechanisms controlling metabolism as well as apoptosis in red blood cells.

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