Heba Alenezi1, Jerome Ozkan2, Mark Willcox2, Grant Parnell3, Nicole Carnt4. 1. School of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, NSW, Australia; College of Applied Medical Science, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 16278, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: h.alenezi@unsw.edu.au. 2. School of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, NSW, Australia. 3. Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2145, NSW, Australia. 4. School of Optometry and Vision Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, NSW, Australia; Centre for Vision Research, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2145, NSW, Australia; Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London EC1V 9EL, United Kingdom.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To determine if there is diurnal variation in gene expression in normal healthy conjunctival cells. METHODS: Bulbar conjunctival swab samples were collected from four healthy subjects in the morning and evening of the same day. The two swab samples were taken from one eye of each participant, with a minimum of five hours gap between the two samples. RNA was extracted and analysed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). RESULTS: A total of 121 genes were differentially expressed between the morning and the evening conjunctival samples, of which 94 genes were upregulated in the morning, and 27 genes were upregulated in the evening. Many of the genes that were upregulated in the morning were involved in defence, cell turnover and regulation of gene expression, while the genes upregulated in the evening were involved in signalling and mucin production. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified several genes whose expression changes over the course of the day. Knowledge of diurnal variations of conjunctival gene expression provides an insight into the regulatory status of the healthy eye and provides a baseline for examining changes during ocular surface disease.
PURPOSE: To determine if there is diurnal variation in gene expression in normal healthy conjunctival cells. METHODS: Bulbar conjunctival swab samples were collected from four healthy subjects in the morning and evening of the same day. The two swab samples were taken from one eye of each participant, with a minimum of five hours gap between the two samples. RNA was extracted and analysed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). RESULTS: A total of 121 genes were differentially expressed between the morning and the evening conjunctival samples, of which 94 genes were upregulated in the morning, and 27 genes were upregulated in the evening. Many of the genes that were upregulated in the morning were involved in defence, cell turnover and regulation of gene expression, while the genes upregulated in the evening were involved in signalling and mucin production. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified several genes whose expression changes over the course of the day. Knowledge of diurnal variations of conjunctival gene expression provides an insight into the regulatory status of the healthy eye and provides a baseline for examining changes during ocular surface disease.
Authors: Michael S Deiner; Gurbani Kaur; Stephen D McLeod; Julie M Schallhorn; James Chodosh; Daniel H Hwang; Thomas M Lietman; Travis C Porco Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2022-07-05 Impact factor: 7.076