Abstract
Tiam-1 has been implicated in the development of the central nervous system. However, the in vivo function of Tiam-1 has not been fully determined in the developing mouse brain. In this study, we generated Tiam-1 knockout mice using a Tiam-1 gene-trapped embryonic stem cell line. Insertion of a gene trap vector into a genomic site downstream of exon 5 resulted in a mutant allele encoding a truncated protein fused with the β-geo LacZ gene. Primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking Tiam-1 revealed a significant decrease in Rac activity and cell proliferation. In addition, whole-mount embryonic LacZ expression analysis demonstrated that Tiam-1 is specifically expressed in regions of the developing brain, such as the caudal telencephalon and rostral diencephalon. More importantly, mouse embryos deficient in Tiam-1 gene expression displayed a severe defect in embryonic brain development, including neural tube closure defects or a dramatic decrease in brain size. These findings suggest that embryonic Tiam-1 expression plays a critical role during early brain development in mice.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 103-108 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Molecules and cells |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Rac
- Tiam-1
- early brain development
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology