tailieunhanh - Báo cáo sinh học: " NFIX - one gene, two knockouts, multiple effects"

Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: NFIX - one gene, two knockouts, multiple effects. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Minireview NFIX - one gene two knockouts multiple effects Vladimir Pekarik and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte 1 Address Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona Doctor Aiguader 88 08003 Barcelona Spain. fSalk Institute for Biological Studies 10010 North Torrey Pines Road La Jolla CA 92037 USA. Correspondence Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte. Email izpisua@ belmonte@ Published 23 October 2008 Journal of Biology 2008 7 29 doi jbiol94 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 7 8 29 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract A previous knockout of the transcription factor gene nuclear factor IX NFIX in mice produced impaired development of the corpus callosum and severe skeletal defects. A recent paper in BMC Developmental Biology reports an apparently similar NFIX knockout that produced marked differences in phenotype raising intriguing general questions about the possible causes of such differences in mouse knockouts. The Nuclear Factor I NFI family of evolutionarily conserved transcription factors is widely expressed during development and in adulthood in mammals but has mainly been studied in respect to brain development where it is intimately associated with glial function 1 2 . The family consists of four members NFIA NFIB NFIC and NFIX each having multiple splice variants 3 . NFI proteins can directly bind to the promoter and regulate the transcription activity of glial fibrillar acidic protein GFAP a marker of glial cells 4 . Different members of the family have been shown to have a variety of roles in neural development but taken together loss-of-function studies of NFI members in mice reveal a common theme - a lack of development agenesis of the corpus callosum the large tract of nerve fibers interconnecting the left and right hemispheres. The main feature of corpus callosum agenesis is an inability to perform tasks where a matching of visual .