Generation of mice with a conditional allele for the transforming growth factor beta3 gene.
The transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) pathway is involved in embryonic development and several inherited and acquired human diseases. The gene for TGFβ3 (Tgfb3) encodes one of the three ligands for TGFβ receptors. It is widely expressed in the embryo and its mutation or misexpression is found in human diseases. Tgfb3-/- mice die at birth from cleft palate, precluding functional studies in adults. Here, we generated mice in which exon 6 of Tgfb3 was flanked with LoxP sites (Tgfb3flox/flox). The adult mice were normal and fertile. EIIa-Cre-mediated deletion of exon 6 in Tgfb3flox/flox mice efficiently generated Tgfb3 conditional knockout (Tgfb3cko/cko) mice which died at birth from the same cleft palate defect as Tgfb3-/- mice, indicating that the conditional and knockout alleles are functionally equivalent. This Tgfb3cko allele will now enable studies of TGFβ3 function in different cell or tissue types in embryonic development and during adulthood.
BIO5 Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85724-5217, USA.
Thomas
T
Doetschman
Teodora
T
Georgieva
Hongqi
H
Li
Thomas D
TD
Reed
Christina
C
Grisham
Jacqueline
J
Friel
Mark A
MA
Estabrook
Connie
C
Gard
L P
LP
Sanford
Mohamad
M
Azhar
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000196:embryology; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010641:Phenotype; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D053782:Transforming Growth Factor beta3 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D018125:Receptors, Transforming Growth Factor beta; D053782:Transforming Growth Factor beta3