RT Journal
A1 Thorrez, Lieven
A1 Laudadio, Ilaria
A1 Van Deun, Katrijn
A1 Quintens, Roel
A1 Hendrickx, Nico
A1 Granvik, Mikaela
A1 Lemaire, Katleen
A1 Schraenen, Anica
A1 Van Lommel, Leentje
A1 Lehnert, Stefan
A1 Aguayo-Mazzucato, Cristina
A1 Cheng-Xue, Rui
A1 Gilon, Patrick
A1 Van Mechelen, Iven
A1 Bonner-Weir, Susan
A1 Lemaigre, Frédéric
A1 Schuit, Frans
T1 Tissue-specific disallowance of housekeeping genes: The other face of cell differentiation
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2010 
FD November 18 
DO 10.1101/gr.109173.110 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2010/12/10/gr.109173.110.abstract 
AB We report on a hitherto poorly characterized class of genes that are expressed in all tissues, except in one. Often, these genes have been classified as housekeeping genes, based on their nearly ubiquitous expression. However, the specific repression in one tissue defines a special class of “disallowed genes.” In this paper, we used the intersection-union test to screen for such genes in a multi-tissue panel of genome-wide mRNA expression data. We propose that disallowed genes need to be repressed in the specific target tissue to ensure correct tissue function. We provide mechanistic data of repression with two metabolic examples, exercise-induced inappropriate insulin release and interference with ketogenesis in liver. Developmentally, this repression is established during tissue maturation in the early postnatal period involving epigenetic changes in histone methylation. In addition, tissue-specific expression of microRNAs can further diminish these repressed mRNAs. Together, we provide a systematic analysis of tissue-specific repression of housekeeping genes, a phenomenon that has not been studied so far on a genome-wide basis and, when perturbed, can lead to human disease.