title: High incidence of distal vaginal atresia in mice lacking Tyro3 RTK subfamily.
abstract: Vaginal atresia is a congenital abnormality of the female genitourinary system, and the specific molecular mechanism leading to failure of vaginal development remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that the female mice lacking Tyro3 RTK subfamily (Tyro3, Axl, and Mer) exhibit a high incidence of distal vaginal atresia. The ratios of the vaginal atresia in Tyro3 RTKs mutant female mice are as follows: 2.5% for Mer(-/-) mice, 4.0% for Axl(-/-)Mer(-/-), 3.7% for Mer(-/-)Tyro3(-/-), 16.06% for Tyro(-/-)Axl(-/-)Mer(-/-) mice. We did not find the vaginal atresia in Axl(-/-), Tyro3(-/-), Axl(-/-) Tyro(-/-), and wild-type mice. These observations suggest that Tyro3 RTKs play roles collaboratively in vaginal development, and Mer is more critical, Axl and Tyro3 support the function of Mer. The phenotype of mice with the vaginal atresia was characterized in this study. Tyro3 RTKs mutant mouse could be a useful model to study the mechanism of vaginal atresia formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Peking Union Medical College, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yongmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Haikun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Daishu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014621:Vagina / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000201:enzymology; D014623:Vaginal Diseases / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D000076202:c-Mer Tyrosine Kinase; D000094963:Axl Receptor Tyrosine Kinase
chemical_list: D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C490767:Mertk protein, mouse; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C513478:Tyro3 protein, mouse; D000076202:c-Mer Tyrosine Kinase; D000094963:Axl Receptor Tyrosine Kinase