Engineering mutant mice

Laminar Organization of Cerebral Cortex in Transforming Growth Factor Beta Mutant Mice

Transforming growth factor betas (TGF?s) are one of the most widespread and versatile cytokines. The three mammalian TGF? isoforms, ?1, ?2, and ?3, and their receptors regulate proliferation of neuronal precursors as well as survival and differentiation in neurons of developing and adult nervous system. Functions of TGF?s has a wide spectrum ranging from regulating cell proliferation and differ...

Spatial learning in mutant mice.

Smad3 Mutant Mice Develop Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

TGFbeta-related growth factors have been implicated in a variety of developmental and physiological processes in organisms ranging from nematodes to mammals. TGFbeta transduces its signal to the interior of the cell via Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4. We report the cloning and targeted disruption of the mouse Smad3 gene. Smad3 mutant mice are viable and fertile. Between 4 and 6 months of age, the Smad...

Mapping Pathological Phenotypes in Reelin Mutant Mice

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental disorders with multifactorial origin characterized by social communication deficits and the presence of repetitive behaviors/interests. Several studies showed an association between the reelin gene mutation and increased risk of ASD and a reduced reelin expression in some brain regions of ASD subjects, suggesting a role for reelin deficienc...

Defective erythroid maturation in gelsolin mutant mice.

BACKGROUND During late differentiation, erythroid cells undergo profound changes involving actin filament remodeling. One of the proteins controlling actin dynamics is gelsolin, a calcium-activated actin filament severing and capping protein. Gelsolin-null (Gsn(-/-)) mice generated in a C57BL/6 background are viable and fertile.1 DESIGN AND METHODS We analyzed the functional roles of gelsolin...