Expression of the proto-oncogene int-1 is restricted to postmeiotic male germ cells and the neural tube of mid-gestational embryos.
The int-1 proto-oncogene is transcriptionally activated in mammary tumors by mouse mammary tumor virus insertion mutations and is normally expressed only in adult mouse testes and mid-gestational embryos. We have used anatomical dissection of embryos, germ-cell fractionation, peripuberal expression studies, and spermatogenesis mutants to identify more precisely the tissues and cells that contain int-1 RNA. In the testis, int-1 RNA is detected only in postmeiotic germ cells undergoing differentiation from round spermatids into mature spermatozoa. In embryos 11-15 days after conception, expression of the gene is restricted to the developing central nervous system in regions of the neural tube other than the telencephalon. Our findings suggest that int-1 mediates developmental events at these two sites.
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D013087:Spermatids / Q000502:physiology*; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013737:Testis / Q000502:physiology; D014018:Tissue Distribution