DC/LeJ

Stock number: 000252
Strain synonyms: Dancer
Research areas: Dermatology Research, Developmental Biology Research, Neurobiology Research, Sensorineural Research

Description

This inbred mutant strain carries the Dancer mutation (Tbx10^Dc).

Detailed description

Mice heterozygous for the semidominant dancer mutation exhibit head tossing and circling behavior. Heterozygotes are not deaf, but have defects in the vestibular region (Wenngren et al., 1989). Homozygotes die at birth with cleft lip and cleft palate (Deol et al., 1966). Strain background influences cleft lip/palate expression in heterozygotes (Trasler et al., 1982). Positional cloning of Dc revealed a 3.3 kb insertion of the Tebp gene into the first intron of Tbx10. The insertion causes ectopic expression of a Tebp-Tbx10 chimeric transcript (Bush et al., 2004).

Development

Dancer (Dc) arose as a spontaneous mutation in the C3H/He obese strain (C3H/He-Lep^ob) at N4 at The Jackson Laboratory in 1956. A dancer and normal sibling of the first appearing dancer mouse were mated and their dancer off spring (Dc/+) was crossed once to C3H/HeJ . The F1's of this cross were sibling mated with an unaffected (+/+) male that came from from the intercross of a dancer (Dc/+) male and an unaffected (+/+) female. The strain was then maintained in this manner and was cryopreserved by mating heterozygous males to +/+ females or vice versa at generation F124 in 1990, and later freezes in 2001 and 2004 were recovered from the original freeze.

Allele

Symbol: Tbx10^Dc
Name: dancer
MGI accession ID: MGI:1861236
Generation method: Spontaneous
Marker symbol: Tbx10
Marker name: T-box 10
Chromosome: 19
Strain of origin: C3.Cg-Lep^ob
Molecular note: The mutation in this allele comprises a small translocation insertion that placed a 3.3 kb fragment of Chr 10 into intron 1 of the Tbx10 gene. This inserted sequence includes exon 1 of the Tebp gene. RT-PCR analysis of Tbx10 expression revealed that the full-length trancript is expressed normally in mutant mice, and that a chimeric transcript consisting of the Tebp exon 1 of the inserted sequence fused in-frame to exon 2 of the Tbx10 gene is expressed ectopically. This chimeric transcript is predicted to encode a trucated, but functional protein that is similar to a normal variant.