title: Deletion of Snai2 and Snai3 results in impaired physical development compounded by lymphocyte deficiency.
abstract: The Snail family of transcriptional regulators consists of three highly conserved members. These proteins regulate (repress) transcription via the recruitment of histone deacetylases to target gene promoters that possess the appropriate E-box binding sequences. Murine Snai1 is required for mouse development while Snai2 deficient animals survive with some anomalies. Less is known about the third member of the family, Snai3. To investigate the function of Snai3, we generated a conditional knockin mouse. Utilizing Cre-mediated deletion to facilitate the ablation of Snai3 in T cells or the entire animal, we found little to no effect of the loss of Snai3 in the entire animal or in T cell lineages. This finding provided the hypothesis that absence of Snai3 was mitigated, in part, by the presence of Snai2. To test this hypothesis we created Snai2/Snai3 double deficient mice. The developmental consequences of lacking both of these proteins was manifested in stunted growth, a paucity of offspring including a dramatic deficiency of female mice, and impaired immune cell development within the lymphoid lineages.
authors.affiliation: The Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, Department of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Pioli
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Dahlem
authors.forename: Janis J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Weis
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Weis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D013154:Spleen / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C000604429:Snai1 protein, mouse; C000604449:Snai2 protein, mouse; C404767:Snai3 protein, mouse; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors