Joyner A L, Skarnes W C, Rossant J
Division of Molecular and Development Biology, Mount Sinai Hospital Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Nature. 1989 Mar 9;338(6211):153-6. doi: 10.1038/338153a0.
A full understanding of the function of genes that control developmental events can be obtained only by a combination of molecular and mutational analysis. One putative developmental gene is the mouse engrailed-like gene En-2, which was isolated by virtue of its extensive homology to Drosophila engrailed, which contributes to the control of segmentation in the developing insect. Our hybridization analysis in situ has revealed that expression of En-2 is restricted to a specific domain of the developing central nervous system from 8 days of development on, indicating a role for the gene in establishing spatial domains in the brain. Unfortunately no En-2 mutations are available to elucidate further its function in development. To this end, we report here the isolation of three pluripotent embryonic stem cell lines in which one copy of the homoeobox-containing gene, En-2, has been altered by homologous recombination.
只有通过分子分析和突变分析相结合，才能全面了解控制发育事件的基因功能。一个假定的发育基因是小鼠类engrailed基因En-2，它是因其与果蝇engrailed具有广泛同源性而被分离出来的，果蝇engrailed有助于控制发育中昆虫的体节形成。我们的原位杂交分析表明，从发育第8天开始，En-2的表达局限于发育中的中枢神经系统的特定区域，这表明该基因在大脑空间区域的建立中起作用。不幸的是，没有En-2突变可用于进一步阐明其在发育中的功能。为此，我们在此报告分离出三个多能胚胎干细胞系，其中含同源异型框的基因En-2的一个拷贝已通过同源重组发生改变。
