title: A natural disruption of the secretory group II phospholipase A2 gene in inbred mouse strains.
abstract: The synovial fluid or group II secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) has been implicated as an important agent involved in a number of inflammatory processes. In an attempt to determine the role of sPLA2 in inflammation, we set out to generate sPLA2-deficient mice. During this investigation, we observed that in a number of inbred mouse strains, the sPLA2 gene was already disrupted by a frameshift mutation in exon 3. This mutation, a T insertion at position 166 from the ATG of the cDNA, terminates out of frame in exon 4, resulting in the disruption of the calcium binding domain in exon 3 and loss of both activity domains coded by exons 4 and 5. The mouse strains C57BL/6, 129/Sv, and B10.RIII were found to be homozygous for the defective sPLA2 gene, whereas outbred CD-1:SW mice had variable genotype at this locus. BALB/c, C3H/HE, DBA/1, DBA/2, NZB/BIN, and MRL lpr/lpr mice had a normal sPLA2 genotype. The sPLA2 mRNA was expressed at very high levels in the BALB/c mouse small intestine, whereas in the small intestine of the sPLA2 mutant mouse strains, sPLA2 mRNA was undetectable. In addition, PLA2 activity in acid extracts of the small intestine were approximately 40 times higher in BALB/c than in the mutant mice. Transcription of the mutant sPLA2 gene resulted in multiple transcripts due to exon skipping. None of the resulting mutant mRNAs encoded an active product. The identification of this mutation should not only help define the physiological role of sPLA2 but also has important implications in mouse inflammatory models developed by targeted mutagenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Merck Frosst Center for Therapeutic Research, Pointe Claire-Dorval, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Payette
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mudgett
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vadas
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pruzanski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Rancourt
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Cromlish
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010741:Phospholipases A / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics*; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D010741:Phospholipases A; D054467:Phospholipases A2