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Neural tube defects (NTDs) are the second most common birth defects in the United States. It is well known that folic acid supplementation decreases about 70% of all NTDs, although the mechanism by which this occurs is still relatively unknown. The current theory is that folic acid deficiency ultimately leads to depletion of the methyl pool, leaving critical genes unmethylated, and, in turn, their...
Mutations in Interferon Regulatory Factor 6 (IRF6) have been identified in two human allelic syndromes with cleft lip and/or palate: Van der Woude (VWS) and Popliteal Pterygium syndromes (PPS). Furthermore, common IRF6 haplotypes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) alleles are strongly associated with nonsyndromic clefting defects in multiple ethnic populations. Mutations in the mouse often...
C57BL/6 mouse is the most standard strain in mouse genetics. The strain does, however, have several disadvantages; one being the difficulty in establishing embryonic stem (ES) cells. No reliable C57BL/6 ES cell line is widely available for creating mutant mice through gene targeting. It also greatly favors mouse genetics if one can routinely make multiple mutations by stably culturing germline‐competent...
To study the expression/function of Tbx10, a T‐box gene, Tbx10LacZ/+ mice were established by replacing the T‐box coding region with a LacZ gene. X‐gal staining showed that LacZ+ cells were localized to two‐cell populations in rhombomere 4 and rhombomere 6. No significant differences in the locations of LacZ+ cells were found between Tbx10LacZ/+ and Tbx10LacZ/LacZ mice, and the Tbx10LacZ/LacZ mice...
Wnt signaling regulates cortical and hippocampal development. In a previous study we found that a particular Wnt receptor, Frizzled9 (Fzd9), was selectively expressed in both the developing and adult hippocampus. Taking advantage of the specificity of this promoter, we generated a transgenic cre mouse line using the putative control elements of the Fzd9 gene. In the Fzd9‐cre mice, Cre is mainly detected...
Gfi1 encodes a zinc‐finger transcription factor essential for the development and maintenance of haematopoiesis and the inner ear. In mouse inner ear, Gfi1 expression is confined to hair cells during development and in adulthood. To construct a genetic tool for inner ear hair cell‐specific gene deletion, we generated a Gfi1‐Cre mouse line by knocking‐in Cre coding sequences into the Gfi1 locus and...
Atoh1 encodes a basic helix‐loop‐helix (bHLH) transcription factor required for the development of the inner ear sensory epithelia, the dorsal spinal cord, brainstem, cerebellum, and intestinal secretory cells. In this study, to create a genetic tool for the research on gene function in the ear sensory organs, we generated an Atoh1‐Cre knock‐in mouse line by replacing the entire Atoh1 coding sequences...
The long‐standing traditional method of delivering embryonic stem (ES) cells adjacent to the inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocysts to generate chimeras improved with the advent of laser‐ or Piezo assisted 8‐cell embryo microinjection. Building on this technology but omitting either the laser or the Piezo to penetrate the zona pellucida and making use of earlier embryonic stages (2‐cell and 4‐cell),...
The morphogenesis of the vertebrate skull results from highly dynamic integrated processes involving the exchange of signals between the ectoderm, the endoderm, and cephalic neural crest cells (CNCCs). Before migration CNCCs are not committed to form any specific skull element, molecular signals exchanged in restricted regions of tissue interaction are crucial in providing positional identity to the...
The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily‐conserved intercellular signaling mechanism, and mutations in its components disrupt embryonic development in many organisms and cause inherited diseases in humans. The Jagged2 (Jag2) gene, which encodes a ligand for Notch pathway receptors, is required for craniofacial, limb, and T cell development. Mice homozygous for a Jag2 null allele die at birth...
The cadherin family of cell adhesion molecules mediates adhesive interactions that are required for the formation and maintenance of tissues. Previously, we demonstrated that N‐cadherin, which is required for numerous morphogenetic processes, is expressed in the pancreatic epithelium at E9.5, but later becomes restricted to endocrine aggregates in mice. To study the role of N‐cadherin during pancreas...
Mammalian dentitions consist of different shapes/types of teeth that are positioned in different regions of the jaw (heterodont) whereas in many fish and reptiles all teeth are of similar type (homodont). The process by which heterodont dentitions have evolved in mammals is not understood. In many teleosts teeth develop in the pharynx from endoderm (endodermal teeth), whereas mammalian teeth develop...
Zebrafish embryos demonstrate robust swimming behavior, which consists of smooth, alternating body bends. In contrast, several motility mutants have been identified that perform sustained, bilateral trunk muscle contractions which result in abnormal body shortening. Unlike most of these mutants, accordion (acc)dta5 demonstrates a semidominant effect: Heterozygotes exhibit a distinct but less severe...
The fruit fly Drosophila is a leading model system for the study of transcriptional control by cis‐regulatory elements or enhancers. Here, we present a rapid and highly efficient system for the large‐scale analysis of enhancer elements, site‐specifically integrated into the Drosophila genome. This system, which is scalable for either small projects or high‐throughput approaches, makes use of the Gateway...
We report the generation and initial characterization of a mouse line expressing tamoxifen‐inducible improved Cre (iCre) recombinase (iCre‐ERT2) under the regulation of NPHS2 (podocin) gene promoter. The resulting transgenic mouse line was named podocin‐iCreERT2 mice. The efficiency of iCre activity was confirmed by crossing podocin‐iCreERT2 with the ROSA26 reporter mouse. By using the floxed ROSA...
Descendants of E9.5 Pax7‐expressing (in red, β‐gal+) central dermomyotome cells contribute to myofibers (in green, MF‐20+, a myosin heavy chain protein) in the E16.5 mouse embryo. Nuclei are blue (DAPI). The β‐gal+/MF‐20_ cells that are intermingled with myofibers are likely myogenic progenitors. See the article by Lepper and Fan in this issue.
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