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Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 2001, p. 5688-5697, Vol. 21, No. 16
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.16.5688-5697.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A Murine Homologue of the Drosophila brainiac Gene Shows Homology to Glycosyltransferases and Is Required for Preimplantation Development of the Mouse

Benedikt Vollrath, Kevin J. Fitzgerald, and Philip Leder^*

Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Received 5 March 2001/Returned for modification 6 April 2001/Accepted 23 May 2001

The neurogenic gene brainiac was first isolated in Drosophila melanogaster, where it interacts genetically with members of the Notch signaling cascade. We have isolated a murine homologue of the Drosophila brainiac gene and delineated its highly specific expression pattern during development and adult life. We find particularly strong expression in the developing central nervous system, in the developing retina, and in the adult hippocampus. Targeted deletion of mouse Brainiac 1 expression leads to embryonic lethality prior to implantation. Null embryos can be recovered as blastocysts but do not appear to implant, indicating that mouse Brainiac 1, likely a glycosyltransferase, is crucial for very early development of the mouse embryo.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Genetics, Harward Medical School, 200 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 432-7667. Fax: (617) 432-7944. E-mail: leder{at}rascal.med.harvard.edu.

Present address: Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA 19486.

Present address: Bristol Myers Squibb, Pennington, NJ 08530.

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Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 2001, p. 5688-5697, Vol. 21, No. 16
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.16.5688-5697.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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