A cDNA macroarray resource for gene expression profiling in ruminant tissues involved in reproduction and production (milk and beef) traits.

cDNA arrays have proven to be useful tools to screen gene expression in many animal species including livestock species. A collaborative program was launched to construct a ruminant cDNA collection, representative of three tissues: Muscle, Embryo and Mammary gland, named MEM. This collection gathers clones mainly arising from 3 non-normalised cDNA libraries: a directed bovine muscle library, a 14-day-old bovine embryo library and a goat lactating mammary library. It is made up of 1896 clones (637 muscle, 882 embryo and 377 mammary cDNAs), selected after sequencing and bioinformatic analyses. Amplification products yielded from these clones as well as controls were printed onto Nylon membranes to generate macroarrays. Hybridisation with relevant cDNA targets allowed checking the location of about 50 cDNAs and the specificity of each sub-set of the repertoire. Macroarrays were hybridised with radiolabelled cDNA complex targets from five different tissues (muscle, embryo, mammary gland, adipose tissue and oocyte). Both somatic and germinal complex targets gave valid hybridisation signals with 45 to 80% of the printed probes. This specific cDNA collection now provides a powerful tool for transcriptomic studies with the ultimate objective to better understand physiological and metabolic functions in ruminants. It will be subsequently included into a forthcoming larger collection.