Figure 2

Microarray profiles reveal transcripts enriched in C. elegans neurons. (a) Scatter plot of intensity values (log base 2) for representative hybridization (DMW32; red) of RNA isolated from all larval cells (reference) by mRNA-tagging compared to the average intensity of the reference dataset (green). (b) Scatter plot of a representative larval pan-neural hybridization (DMW33; red) compared to the average intensities for all three larval pan-neural hybridizations (green). (c) Results of a single larval pan-neural hybridization (DMW33; red) compared to average reference intensities (green) to identify differentially expressed transcripts. Known neural genes snb-1 (synaptobrevin, all neurons), unc-17 (VAChT, cholinergic neurons), and unc-47 (VGAT, GABAergic neurons) are enriched (red). Depleted genes include two muscle-specific transcripts (unc-15, paramyosin, and tni-3, troponin) and a germline-specific gene (him-3) (green). (d,e) Pairwise comparisons of individual hybridizations. Coefficient of determination (R²) values for all pairwise combinations of reference hybridizations (d) and for all pairwise combinations of larval pan-neural hybridizations (e) indicate reproducible results for both reference and experimental samples.