*4.5. Quantitative Real-Time (qRT)-PCR*

The qRT-PCR was performed as previously described [7]. Briefly, total mRNA from mice was isolated from snap-frozen kidneys using RNeasy RNA isolation kit (Qiagen, Australia), according to the manufacturer's instructions. The concentration and quality of RNA were determined by NanoDrop-1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Next, RNA was transcribed to cDNA using a reaction kit (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, MA, USA). Quantitative analysis of target marker was performed with qRT-PCR using the relative standard curve method. TaqMan or SYBR green analysis was conducted by using an Applied Biosystems 7500 Sequence Detector (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, MA, USA). The expression levels were normalized to 18S rRNA. All primer sequences are provided in Table S2.
