Transcriptome analysis of the mouse E14.5 (TS23) developing humerus and differential expression in muscle-less mutant embryos lacking mechanical stimulation

Mechanical stimulation is important for the correct formation of the skeleton. Splotch-delayed mutant embryos (Pax3(Spd/Spd)) that develop with no limb muscle and therefore no limb movement experience an altered mechanical environment resulting in specific defects in ossification and joint formation, particularly in the forelimb. To test the hypothesis that mechanical stimuli influence the regulation of genes important in skeletal development we generated a transcriptome profile of the developing humerus at Theiler stage 23 (TS23), and then identified differentially expressed genes in muscle-less mutant embryos compared to control littermates. Here we describe the experimental methods and analysis of the resulting data, publically available in the ArrayExpress database under E-MTAB-1745 (Transcriptome of control humerus), E-MTAB-1744 (Microarray; differential expression) and E-MTAB-1746 (RNA-sequencing; differential expression). Our data provide a resource for exploring the transcriptome that underlies skeletal development at TS23 in the mouse humerus. The interpretation and description of this data can be found in a recent publication in BMC Genomics [1]. This is a resource for exploring the molecular mechanisms that are involved in skeletal development and mechanotransduction.