Regassa et al. BMC Genomics 2011, 12:57 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/12/57 Page 9 of 20 Figure 8 Functional grouping of genes that are over expressed in the OO + CCs relative to OO - CCs samples showing the most significant functional groups, with P values, 0.05. The bars represent the P-value in logarithmic scale for each functional group. exception of one transcript, the results of qRT-PCR ana- lysis validated the array data as the expression levels of a given transcript between the two samples compared (designated by *) are significantly different (P < 0.05) (Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). Additionally, semi-quantita- tive RT-PCR validation of some selected genes also sup- ports the microarray data (Figure 20). The actual microarray expression values of genes validated using real time qRT-PCR analysis are shown as additional files 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. Immunoflourescence staining for localization of two selected proteins, IRF6 and MSX1, in oocyte or CCs clearly demonstrated that IRF6 is expressed only in oocyte and MSX1 is expressed in both oocyte and CCs showing the accuracy of our hybridization protocol (Figure 21). Discussion We analyzed the transcriptome profiles of bovine oocytes and their companion CCs and investigated Figure 9 Functional grouping of genes that are over expressed in the CCs + OO relative to CCs - OO samples showing the most significant functional groups, with P values, 0.05. The bars represent the P-value in logarithmic scale for each functional group.