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Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2001, p. 1730-1736, Vol. 21, No. 5
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.5.1730-1736.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Cardiomyopathy in Irx4-Deficient Mice Is
Preceded by Abnormal Ventricular Gene Expression
Benoit G.
Bruneau,1,
Zheng-Zheng
Bao,1
Diane
Fatkin,2
Jose
Xavier-Neto,3,4
Dimitrios
Georgakopoulos,5
Colin T.
Maguire,6
Charles I.
Berul,6
David A.
Kass,5
Mercedes L.
Kuroski-de Bold,7
Adolfo J.
de Bold,7
David A.
Conner,1,8
Nadia
Rosenthal,3
Constance L.
Cepko,1,8
Christine E.
Seidman,1,2,9 and
J. G.
Seidman1,8,*
Department of
Genetics1 and Howard Hughes Medical
Institute,8 Harvard Medical School,
Cardiovascular Division, Department of
Medicine,2 and Howard Hughes Medical
Institute,9 Brigham and Women's
Hospital, and Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical
School,6 Boston, and Cardiovascular
Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital,
Charlestown,3 Massachusetts;
Laboratório de Genética e Cardiologia Molecular,
Instituto do Coração (InCor) HC-FMUSP, São Paulo
05403-000, Brazil4; Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland5; and
University of Ottawa Heart Institute at the Ottawa
Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4H9, Canada7
Received 28 September 2000/Returned for modification 10 November
2000/Accepted 28 November 2000
To define the role of Irx4, a member of the Iroquois
family of homeobox transcription factors in mammalian heart development and function, we disrupted the murine Irx4 gene. Cardiac
morphology in Irx4-deficient mice (designated
Irx4
ex2/
ex2) was normal during
embryogenesis and in early postnatal life. Adult
Irx4
ex2/
ex2 mice developed a
cardiomyopathy characterized by cardiac hypertrophy and impaired
contractile function. Prior to the development of cardiomyopathy,
Irx4
ex2/
ex2 hearts had abnormal
ventricular gene expression: Irx4-deficient embryos exhibited reduced
ventricular expression of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription
factor eHand (Hand1), increased Irx2 expression, and ventricular induction of an atrial
chamber-specific transgene. In neonatal hearts, ventricular expression
of atrial natriuretic factor and
-skeletal
actin was markedly increased. Several weeks subsequent to these
changes in embryonic and neonatal gene expression, increased expression
of hypertrophic markers BNP and
-myosin heavy
chain accompanied adult-onset cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiac
expression of Irx1, Irx2, and Irx5 may
partially compensate for loss of Irx4 function. We conclude
that Irx4 is not sufficient for ventricular chamber formation but is
required for the establishment of some components of a
ventricle-specific gene expression program. In the absence of genes
under the control of Irx4, ventricular function deteriorates and
cardiomyopathy ensues.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 432-7830. Fax: (617) 432-7832. E-mail:
seidman{at}rascal.med.harvard.edu.

Present address: Division of Cardiovascular Research, The Hospital
for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2001, p. 1730-1736, Vol. 21, No. 5
0270-7306/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.21.5.1730-1736.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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