Deciphering brain-specific transcriptomic expression of Ezr, Rad and Msn genes in the development of Mus musculus

Abstract

Ezrin, Radixin and Moesin (ERM) are critical membranous component involved in cross-linking of actin fila- ments. Moesin (Msn) is recognized as a pivotal protein involved in regulation of cell signalling events associated

with the maintenance of epithelial integrity, actin organization and polarity. Radixin (Rad) is known to cell-to- cell adherens junction as a barbed end-capping protein whereas ezrin (Ezr) is recognized at cell adhesion,

motility, apoptosis and phagocytosis. The current study for the first time reports the transcriptional and RNA

secondary structural variations among brain-specific ERM genes. Firstly, we analyzed brain-specific tran- scriptomic expression in selected embryonic and postnatal developmental stages (E10.5, E14.5, E18.5, P0.5,

P3.5, P5.5, P10.5 and P20.5) of Mus musculus. Among designated developmental stages, Ezr has highest fold difference in early embryonic and postnatal stages (E10.5, P0.5 and P5.5). Rad showed a similar pattern of high

expression especially at embryonic stages (E10.5 and E18.5) and postnatal (P0.5 and P5.5), however, Msn ex- hibited non-significant fold differences in comparison to controls leading to its curial role in development.

Furthermore, computational prediction of ERM coding mRNA transcripts, reveals compact and less dynamic Msn secondary structure and pseudoknots configurations, in contrast to Ezr and Rad. Conclusively, transcriptomic levels are greatly associated with compact base pairing organization of its secondary structures. These findings open a new domain to understand the occurrence of ERM-specific cytoskeleton proteins during developmental stages.