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Molecular and Cellular Biology, April 2000, p. 2874-2879, Vol. 20, No. 8
Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center, and Department of Medicine, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Received 21 July 1999/Returned for modification 13 September
1999/Accepted 16 December 1999
The NK-2 homeobox genes have been shown to play critical roles in
the development of specific organs and tissues. Nkx2.6 is a member of
the NK-2 homeobox gene family and is most closely related to the
Drosophila tinman gene. Nkx2.6 is expressed in the caudal
pharyngeal pouches, the caudal heart progenitors, the sinus venosus,
and the outflow tract of the heart and in a short segment of the gut at
early stages of embryogenesis. To investigate the function of Nkx2.6 in
vivo, we generated mice with null mutations of Nkx2.6 by the gene
targeting technique. Homozygous Nkx2.6 mutant mice were viable and
fertile. There were no obvious abnormalities in the caudal pharyngeal
pouch derivatives (the thymus, parathyroid glands, and thyroid gland),
heart, and gut. Expression of Nkx2.6 overlaps that of Nkx2.5 in the
pharynx and heart and that of Nkx2.3 in the pharynx. Interestingly, in
mutant embryos homozygous for Nkx2.6, Nkx2.5 expression extended to the
lateral side of the pharynx, suggesting a compensatory function of
Nkx2.5 in the mutant pharyngeal pouches.
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Phenotypic Characterization of the Murine
Nkx2.6 Homeobox Gene by Gene Targeting
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: SL-201, Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215. Phone: (617) 667-4858. Fax: (617) 975-5268. E-mail:
sizumo{at}caregroup.harvard.edu.
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