This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Franz, T. Articles by Dear, T. N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Franz, T. Articles by Dear, T. N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2004, p. 1649-1654, Vol. 24, No. 4
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.4.1649-1654.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Capn5 Is Expressed in a Subset of T Cells and Is Dispensable for Development

Department of Developmental Immunology, Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany

Received 25 September 2003/ Returned for modification 13 November 2003/ Accepted 19 November 2003

The Capn5 gene was inactivated by homologous recombination in ES cells that subsequently colonized the germ line of mice. The targeted mutation integrated a lacZ expression cassette into the Capn5 gene, allowing the expression of Capn5 mRNA to be examined in detail in heterozygous animals. Expression was observed in embryonic and newborn thymuses, in various epithelial tissues, and in tissues of the central nervous system. In the thymus, Capn5 was expressed mainly in relatively immature CD25⁺ embryonic thymocytes. Despite the numerous expression sites of Capn5, the majority of Capn5-null mice were viable and fertile and appeared healthy. Histopathological analysis did not reveal any differences between Capn5-null and wild-type mice. There were no defects in the major T- or B-cell populations in the thymus, spleen, bone marrow, or peritoneum, nor did apoptosis appear abnormal in Capn5-null T cells. There was no evidence for the development of autoimmune disease in Capn5-null animals. However, a small proportion of homozygous null offspring from heterozygous matings were runted and most often did not survive to adulthood.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Barbaric, I., Miller, G., Dear, T. N. (2007). Appearances can be deceiving: phenotypes of knockout mice. Brief Funct Genomic Proteomic 0: elm008v1-13 [Abstract] [Full Text]