Determination of transcriptome changes in the growth plate cartilage and in cultured chondrocytes of CreTW mice. The transcriptome of femoral growth plate cartilage (dashed line) isolated from 12-d-old Cre and CreTW mice was compared using whole-genome mRNA arrays. (A) The growth plates of four individual animals per genotype were analyzed, and the corresponding expression intensity plots and Venn diagrams of differentially expressed genes are shown (fold-change ≥2, P < 0.05, Cre versus CreTW); mitochondrial genes as annotated in the array (ochre) and genes of the ISR are given (purple). (B) Cluster analysis: ISR genes. Entities not differentially expressed or below expression threshold are displayed in desaturated colors. For some genes, results of multiple probes are shown. FC, fold change. (C) The expression of selected genes was validated by qPCR using cDNA from growth plate cartilage of 12-d-old mice. Quantitative data are mean ± SD (n = 3 animals per genotype). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (D) The induction of a UPR was studied by semiquantitative PCR using cDNA from isolated primary rib cage chondrocytes of 1-mo-old Cre and CreTW mice or femoral growth plate cartilage isolated from 12-d-old mice. The expression of Xbp1 and spliced sXbp1 mRNA was determined. Tunicamycin-treated chondrocytes were used as control.