Regulation of gene expression by loss-of-YAP/TAZ in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells

YAP1 (Yes-associated protein 1) and TAZ (transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif, or WWTR1) are nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling proteins that can function in the nucleus as transcriptional coactivators. Their role in regulating gene transcription has been so far mainly investigated by overexpressing YAP1 or TAZ, while here we sought to determine which genes are regulated by endogenous levels of YAP/TAZ. To this end, we compared MCF10A cells transfected with a control non-targeting siRNA to cells transfected with two independent mixes of siRNA targeting both YAP and TAZ. MDA-MB-231 cells growing at low confluence in standard growth conditions were transfected with the indicated siRNAs (Dupont et al., Nature 2011). The following day, growth medium was renewed and cells were incubated for 24 more hours, and then harvested for total RNA extraction. 4 independent biological replicates were plated, transfected ans harvested in parallel for each siRNA.