WT and KO mice (age 6 wk; 4 mice/group) received tail vein injections of AAV encoding a control mRNA (AAV-EGFP), wild-type BHLHE40, or mutant BHLHE40(S383A). Three weeks after injection, mice were fasted overnight and then refed with a high-carbohydrate diet for 4 hr, after which total liver RNA was prepared and subjected to quantitative RT-PCR. Each circle, triangle, or square represents an individual mouse. The mRNA expression is plotted as the amount relative to livers of WT mice injected with the control AAV-EGFP, which is assigned a value of 1.0. Mean Ct values for BHLHE40, SREBP-1c, LXRα and C/EBPβ in the livers of WT mice receiving AAV-EGFP were 22.3, 25.4, 22.4, and 22.7, respectively. *p<0.01; **p<0.001; NS, not significant. p-Values calculated using Student t-test.