STOCK Smo^tm2Amc/J

Stock number: 004526
Product name: Smo^c
Research areas: Developmental Biology Research, Research Tools

Description

Smo^c mice have loxP sites flanking exon 1 of the smoothened homolog (Drosophila) gene. Exposure to Cre recombinase removes the floxed sequence - creating a null allele. These Smo^c mice may be useful in studying hedgehog signaling and cell proliferation in the dental epithelium, craniofacial development, astrocyte populations, cardiovascular development, and of cardiac neural crest cells.

Detailed description

These mice possess loxP sites on either side of exon 1 of the targeted gene. Mice that are homozygous for this allele are viable, fertile, normal in size and do not display any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities.

When bred to a strain with the targeted null allele (Stock No. 004288) and a strain expressing Cre recombinase in the skin (Stock No. 004782), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of hedgehog signalling and cell proliferation in the dental epithelium.

When bred to a strain with the targeted null allele (Stock No. 004288) and a strain expressing Cre recombinase in the nervous system (Stock No. 003771), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of hedgehog signalling and cerebellar foliation. It has been the experience of The Jackson Laboratory Repository that homozygous mice exhibit small eyes.

When bred to a strain with the targeted null allele (Stock No. 004288) and a strain expressing Cre recombinase in the midbrain/dorsal spinal cord (Stock No. 007807), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of craniofacial development.

When bred to a strain expressing Cre recombinase in astrocytes and neural stem cells (see Stock No. 012886 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of specific populations of astrocytes.

When bred to a strain expressing Cre recombinase in endothelial cells (see Stock No. 004128 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of cardiovascular development.

When bred to a strain expressing Cre recombinase in the neural tube/midbrain/dorsal spinal cord (see Stock No. 009107 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of cardiac neural crest cells.

Development

A loxP site flanked targeting vector containing a 400bp fragment of exon 1 and an FRT-flanked neomycin resistance gene was utilized in the construction of this mutant. This construct, with a downstream tau-lacZ, was electroporated into 129X1/SvJ derived AV3 embryonic stem (ES) cells. Correctly targeted ES cells were injected into C57BL/6J blastocysts. The resulting male chimeric animals were crossed to Swiss Webster females. The strain was then maintained as a homozygote prior to sending to the Jackson Laboratory in 2002.

Allele

Symbol: Smo^tm2Amc
Name: targeted mutation 2, Andrew P McMahon
MGI accession ID: MGI:2176256
Generation method: Targeted
Attributes: Conditional ready (e.g. floxed); Reporter; No functional change
Marker symbol: Smo
Marker name: smoothened, frizzled class receptor
Chromosome: 6
Strain of origin: 129X1/SvJ
Expressed genes: lacZ,beta-galactosidase,E. coli
Site of expression: When bred with mice containing Cre recombinase, lacZ will be expressed in Cre-expressing cells of the offspring.
Molecular note: Two loxP sites and an frt-flanked neomycin resistance cassette were inserted flanking ~400 bp of the first coding exon 1 from 44 bp upstream through 358 bp downstream of the translation initiation codon. A tau-LacZ gene was also inserted 3' to the neomycin resistance gene.