The ability to mutate a cloned gene whose function in vivo is poorly understood is an important goal for mammalian developmental genetics. The newly emerging strategy for achieving this goal in mice depends not only on targeting a mutation to a given gene by homologous recombination between the endogenous gene and an introduced mutant copy, but also the ability to do so in cell type that retains its ability to form functional germ cells when placed into a host embryo. Embryo-derived stem (ES) cells are the cell type of choice because they are known to maintain their pluripotency during in vitro culture. Furthermore, these cells are capable of contributing to the germline of blastocyst-injection chimeras, from which mutant lines of mice can be established. Thus, gene targeting in ES cells offers exciting possibilities for determining the significance of genes that are expressed during development but whose functions are poorly understood. The long-term goal of the work outlined in this proposal is to interfere with expression of he gene that encodes the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM). NCAM is known to be a membrane-bound adhesion molecule that exists in multiple forms each of which are expressed in a temporal and cell-type specific pattern during development. A comprehensive and systematic series of experiments will be conducted to mutate the mouse NCAM gene by homologous recombination. Specific exons of the NCAM gene will be altered either by inserting a stop codon so that translation will be terminated, or by deleting specific exons from processed RNA by removing splice-acceptor sites. In either instance, the expression of specific forms of NCAM will be affected. Mice heterozygous for these mutations will be bred from founder chimeras produced by blastocyst-injection experiments. These mice will be crossed to produce homozygous embryos and the resulting phenotype examined.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HD026722-01
Application #
3328240
Study Section
Mammalian Genetics Study Section (MGN)
Project Start
1990-07-01
Project End
1995-06-30
Budget Start
1990-07-01
Budget End
1991-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1990
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Case Western Reserve University
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
077758407
City
Cleveland
State
OH
Country
United States
Zip Code
44106
Chen, B; Bronson, R T; Klaman, L D et al. (2000) Mice mutant for Egfr and Shp2 have defective cardiac semilunar valvulogenesis. Nat Genet 24:296-9
Thomas, J W; LaMantia, C; Magnuson, T (1998) X-ray-induced mutations in mouse embryonic stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:1114-9
Chakravarti, S; Magnuson, T; Lass, J H et al. (1998) Lumican regulates collagen fibril assembly: skin fragility and corneal opacity in the absence of lumican. J Cell Biol 141:1277-86
Threadgill, D W; Matin, A; Yee, D et al. (1997) SSLPs to map genetic differences between the 129 inbred strains and closed-colony, random-bred CD-1 mice. Mamm Genome 8:441-2
Threadgill, D W; Yee, D; Matin, A et al. (1997) Genealogy of the 129 inbred strains: 129/SvJ is a contaminated inbred strain. Mamm Genome 8:390-3
Rabinowitz, J E; Rutishauser, U; Magnuson, T (1996) Targeted mutation of Ncam to produce a secreted molecule results in a dominant embryonic lethality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:6421-4
Hu, H; Tomasiewicz, H; Magnuson, T et al. (1996) The role of polysialic acid in migration of olfactory bulb interneuron precursors in the subventricular zone. Neuron 16:735-43
Tong, B J; Das, S K; Threadgill, D et al. (1996) Differential expression of the full-length and truncated forms of the epidermal growth factor receptor in the preimplantation mouse uterus and blastocyst. Endocrinology 137:1492-6
Rabinowitz, J E; Magnuson, T (1995) Independent gene targeting by coelectroporation of multiple vectors. Anal Biochem 228:180-2
Threadgill, D W; Dlugosz, A A; Hansen, L A et al. (1995) Targeted disruption of mouse EGF receptor: effect of genetic background on mutant phenotype. Science 269:230-4

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