title: Deletion of the MBII-85 snoRNA gene cluster in mice results in postnatal growth retardation.
abstract: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS [MIM 176270]) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by decreased fetal activity, muscular hypotonia, failure to thrive, short stature, obesity, mental retardation, and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. It is caused by the loss of function of one or more imprinted, paternally expressed genes on the proximal long arm of chromosome 15. Several potential PWS mouse models involving the orthologous region on chromosome 7C exist. Based on the analysis of deletions in the mouse and gene expression in PWS patients with chromosomal translocations, a critical region (PWScr) for neonatal lethality, failure to thrive, and growth retardation was narrowed to the locus containing a cluster of neuronally expressed MBII-85 small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes. Here, we report the deletion of PWScr. Mice carrying the maternally inherited allele (PWScr(m-/p+)) are indistinguishable from wild-type littermates. All those with the paternally inherited allele (PWScr(m+/p-)) consistently display postnatal growth retardation, with about 15% postnatal lethality in C57BL/6, but not FVB/N crosses. This is the first example in a multicellular organism of genetic deletion of a C/D box snoRNA gene resulting in a pronounced phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Pathology (ZMBE), University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Boris V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Skryabin
authors.forename: Leonid V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Gubar
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Seeger
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Sergej
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Handel
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Robeck
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karpova
authors.forename: Timofey S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Rozhdestvensky
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brosius
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar