E9.5 TRAF7-*/-* whole embryo transcriptome
To investigate the physiological function of TRAF7 in vivo, we generated mice with a conditionally targeted Traf7 allele. The conditional allele contained loxP sites flanking exons 2 and 14 in the Traf7 gene. Heterozygous Traf7-floxed allele (Traf7+/fl) mice were healthy and fertile. Homozygous Traf7fl/fl pups appeared normal at birth, but unexpectedly stopped gaining weight after postnatal day 12 and developed a pronounced ataxia with seizure-like behavior and had to be euthanized shortly after P30. For clarity, Traf7-floxed mice showing pathology are referred to as Traf7fl*/fl* mice to distinguish them from healthy Traf7fl/fl animals, which we described previously. Next, we produced mice with whole body deletion of Traf7 by crossing Traf7-floxed mice with E2a-Cre-transgenic animals. While Traf7-*/+ mice were phenotypically normal and fertile, Traf7-*/-* animals died around day 10 of embryonic development (E10). To understand gene expression differences between WT and Traf7-*/-* embryos, we compared their transcriptome profiles at E9.5 by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq).