Abstract
Background: Sox4 is an essential gene, and genetic deletion results in embryonic lethality. In an effort to develop mice with tissue-specific deletion, we bred conditional knockout mice bearing LoxP recombination sites flanking the Sox4 gene, with the LoxP sites located in the Sox4 5’UTR and 3’UTR. Results: The number of mice homozygous for this LoxP-flanked conditional knockout allele was far below the expected number, suggesting embryonic lethality with reduced penetrance. From over 200 animals bred, only 11% were homozygous Sox4flox/flox mice, compared to the expected Mendelian ratio of 25% (p<0.001). Moreover, there was a significant reduction in the number of female Sox4flox/flox mice (26%) relative to male Sox4flox/flox mice (p=0.0371). Reduced Sox4 expression in homozygous embryos was confirmed by in-situ hybridization and Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (QPCR). Conclusion: LoxP sites in the 5’ and 3’ UTR of both alleles of Sox4 resulted in reduced, but variable expression of Sox4 message.
Footnotes
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This research was supported by NIH R01CA106826.
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Conflicts of Interest
The Authors declare they have no competing interests.
- Received April 9, 2014.
- Revision received June 16, 2014.
- Accepted June 18, 2014.
- Copyright © 2014 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved