jumonji gene is essential for the neurulation and cardiac development of mouse embryos with a C3H/He background

• Published in: Mechanisms of development Vol. 86; no. 1; pp. 29 - 38
• Main Authors: Takeuchi, Takashi, Kojima, Mizuyo, Nakajima, Kuniko, Kondo, Shunzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-08-1999
• Subjects: Animals; Bulbus cordis; Cardiac defects; Cardiac myocytes; Cell proliferation; Disease Models, Animal; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene trap; Heart - embryology; Heart Defects, Congenital - genetics; Heart Defects, Congenital - pathology; Heart Defects, Congenital - veterinary; Heart morphogenesis; Heart Ventricles - metabolism; Homozygote; jumonji; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C3H - genetics; Mice, Mutant Strains; Myocardium - cytology; Myocardium - pathology; Myogenesis; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - metabolism; Neural plate; Neural tube defects; Neural Tube Defects - genetics; Neural Tube Defects - veterinary; Neurulation; Phenotype; Polycomb Repressive Complex 2; Rodent Diseases - genetics; Ventricular trabeculae; Cell proliferation; Ventricular trabeculae; Heart morphogenesis; Neural tube defects; Bulbus cordis; Gene trap; Neural plate; Cardiac defects; Neurulation; Cardiac myocytes; Myogenesis; jumonji
• ISSN: 0925-4773; 1872-6356
• DOI: 10.1016/S0925-4773(99)00100-8

The recessive mutant mouse
jumonji (
jmj), obtained by a gene trap strategy, shows neural tube defects in approximately half of homozygous embryos with a BALB/cA and 129/Ola mixed background, but no neural tube defects with BALB/cA, C57BL/6J, and DBA/2J backgrounds. Here, we show that neural tube and cardiac defects are observed in all embryos with a C3H/HeJ background. In addition, abnormal groove formation and prominent flexure are observed on the neural plate with full penetrance, suggesting that abnormal groove formation leads to neural tube defects. We found morphogenetic abnormalities in the bulbus cordis (future outflow tract and the right ventricle) of homozygous embryo hearts. Moreover, myocytes in the ventricular trabeculae show hyperplasia with cells filling the ventricles. Together with the observation that the
jmj gene is expressed in the neural epithelium of the head neural plate and in myocytes in the bulbus cordis and trabeculae, the results show that the
jmj gene plays essential roles in the normal development of the neural plate, morphogenesis of bulbus cordis, and proliferation of trabecular myocytes on a C3H/He background.