Nature Genetics
22, 37 - 43 (1999)
doi:10.1038/8743
Conditional mutation of Brca1 in mammary epithelial cells results
in blunted ductal morphogenesis and tumour formationXiaoling Xu1, Kay-Uwe Wagner2, Denise Larson3, Zoë Weaver4, Cuiling Li1, Thomas Ried4, Lothar Hennighausen2, Anthony Wynshaw-Boris3
& Chu-Xia Deng11 Genetics of Development and Disease Branch, 10/9N105, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. 2 Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, National nstitute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. 3 Genetic Disease Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. 4 Genetics Department, Division of Clinical Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Chu-Xia Deng chuxiad@bdg10.niddk.nih.govCre-mediated excision of exon 11 of the breast-tumour suppressor gene
Brca1 in mouse mammary epithelial cells causes increased apoptosis and
abnormal ductal development. Mammary tumour formation occurs after long latency
and is associated with genetic instability characterized by aneuploidy, chromosomal
rearrangements or alteration of Trp53 (encoding p53) transcription.
To directly test the role of p53 in Brca1-associated tumorigenesis, we introduced
a Trp53-null allele into mice with mammary epithelium-specific inactivation
of Brca1. The loss of p53 accelerated the formation of mammary tumours
in these females. Our results demonstrate that disruption of Brca1 causes
genetic instability and triggers further alterations, including the inactivation
of p53, that lead to tumour formation.Introduction
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second-leading cause of
cancer mortality in women, with approximately one in nine being affected in
their lifetime1,
2. BRCA1, located on human chromosome
17q21, was isolated as the gene responsible for increased susceptibility to
familial breast and ovarian cancer3. Germline mutations of
BRCA1 have been detected in approximately 90% of familial breast and ovarian
cancers and approximately 50% of familial breast cancer alone2,
4.
Full-length BRCA1 is a nuclear protein of 220 kD and 1,863 amino acids3,
5. BRCA1 also encodes several isoforms of varying sizes
which are primarily due to alternative splicing of exons 1 and 11 (refs 6, 7, 8).
Exon 11 is the largest exon and encodes approximately 60% of the protein.
It also contains two putative nuclear-localization signals and interacts indirectly
with RAD 51, a homologue of RecA that is involved in DNA-damage repair3,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14. BRCA1 also co-immunoprecipitates with p53
both in vitro and in vivo, and regulates p53-dependent gene
expression15,
16, suggesting a possible interaction between
these two tumour-suppressor proteins during tumorigenesis.
In the mouse, Brca1 encodes a protein of 1,812 amino acids with
approximately 58% identity to the human protein17,
18. The gene
is highly expressed in rapidly proliferating mammary epithelial cells during
pregnancy and downregulated during lactation17. Due to the early
embryonic lethality associated with the loss of Brca1 (refs 19, 20, 21, 22, 23), however, its role
in mammary gland development and neoplasia in mice remains unknown.
To overcome the early lethality and to study the function of Brca1 during
mammary gland development and neoplasia, we deleted exon 11 of Brca1
using a Cre-loxP approach24. Mice were engineered to that carry
a Brca1-null allele, a Brca1 conditional allele and a Cre
transgene under the control of the promoter of the gene encoding whey
acidic protein (Wap) or mouse mammary tumour virus-long terminal repeat
(MMTV-LTR), which are active in mammary epithelial cells. Mammary-gland tumours
formed after long latency at the expense of genetic stability and alteration
of Trp53 transcription. Notably, removal of one Trp53 allele
accelerated mammary-gland tumour formation. Our study demonstrates that Brca1
functions as a tumour suppressor in the mouse and interacts with p53 during
tumorigenesis. It also provides a valuable mouse model to screen for factors
that promote or prevent mammary-gland tumour formation.
Conditional mutation of Brca1 in mouse mammary tissue
The conditional mutation of Brca1 was achieved by flanking exon
11 of the gene with loxP sites (Fig. 1a).
The presence of the neo gene in intron 10 completely blocked normal
splicing of Brca1 and caused embryonic lethality at approximately embryonic
day 8.5 (X.X. and C.-X.D., unpublished data). We therefore removed pLoxpneo
by transient expression of the Cre recombinase in heterozygous ES cells. Of
384 clones screened for recombination, 2 had the neo gene deleted,
leaving one loxP site in intron 10 and another in intron 11 (Fig. 1b). Both clones were injected into blastocysts
and germline transmission of the conditional Brca1 allele was obtained.
 | | Figure 1. Introduction of loxP sites into Brca1. | | |  | a, Targeting construct pLoxneoBrca1, which contains a pLoxpneo
in intron 10 and a third loxP site in intron 11, was used to target
the Brca1 locus. b, Because the presence of the neo
gene in intron 10 resulted in recessive embryonic lethality, the neo
gene was removed in embryonic stem (ES) cells by transient expression of pMC1-Cre.
c, Southern-blot analysis to show targeted ES clones (lanes 2 and 3),
which exhibited band shifts of 10-12 kb on HindIII digestion followed
by hybridization with a flanking probe (probe 1). d, Southern-blot
analysis of DNAs from ES clones after pMC1-Cre transfection. DNAs were digested
with XbaI plus EcoRV and hybridized with a 1.5-kb KpnI-
HindIII fragment (probe 2) that is specific to exon 11 of Brca1.
Of 44 G418-sensitive clones examined by Southern blot, 2 clones contained
recombination that just removed neo (lane 5) and 3 clones contained
a weak band from unrecombined DNA (lanes 3 and 4). Lane 1 was DNA isolated
from a clone that was heterozygous for the mutant allele. The remaining 39
clones contained recombination that deleted neo and exon 11 of
Brca1. An example of these clones, which only contained a wild-type allele,
is shown in lane 2. We have also removed neo from the mouse genome
using EIIa (adenovirus type 2 early promoter) -Cre transgenic
mice43, or by injecting Cre plasmid into oocytes that carry
neo. Both methods selectively excised neo efficiently (data not
shown).
 Full Figure and legend (79K) |
| |
We next generated mice carrying a Brca1-null allele (Brca1
Ko22), a conditional allele (Brca1Co)
or either an MMTV-Cre or Wap-Cre transgene (
Fig. 2a). The MMTV-Cre transgene is active in many tissues,
whereas the Wap-Cre transgene is expressed almost exclusively in mammary
epithelial cells25. We evaluated the extent of Wap-Cre-mediated
excision of exon 11 and its tissue distribution by PCR and Southern-blot analyses.
PCR on multiple tissues and organs demonstrated that the excision of exon
11 occurred almost exclusively in mammary tissue (Fig. 2
b). Southern-blot analysis of mammary tissue at several stages
of development, including pregnancy (P; days 11.5 and 16.5), lactation (L;
days 1 and 10) and involution (day 10), revealed extensive Cre-mediated recombination,
which peaked at approximately 50% at P16.5 (Fig. 2c).
We detected less than 10% recombination at P11.5 and approximately 30% during
lactation (data not shown). As mammary tissue consists of not only secretory
epithelial cells but also fat and stromal cells, where the Wap-Cre
transgene is inactive, the amount of epithelium that undergoes recombination
may be much higher. Indeed, northern-blot analysis demonstrated that the
Brca1 transcripts were reduced in mammary tissue from P11.5 and P16.5
Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre mice (Fig. 2d).
Compared with the intensities of Brca1 and Gapd transcripts,
the amount of transcripts from Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre glands
was less than 10% of control levels.
| | Figure 2. Deletion of Brca1 exon 11 in the mammary gland by Wap-Cre
-mediated recombination. | | |  | a, Genomic structure of the Brca1 mutant allele22
and the conditional allele (Co). Arrows show positions and directions of PCR
primers used for detecting products of recombination . b, Cre-mediated
recombination was detected predominantly in mammary gland (ma) from a P16.5
Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre mouse. Recombination products with a
much weaker intensity were also detected in brain. Recombination products,
however, were only detected in mammary gland when the samples were analysed
by Southern blot (data not shown). c, Southern-blot analysis showing
recombination of DNA from P16.5 Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre and
Brca1+/CoWap-Cre mammary glands. Both wild-type and mutant
alleles were 10.5 kb, the recombined allele was 3.5 kb and the unrecombined
conditional allele was 8 kb. The intensity of the 8- and 3.5-kb fragments
was comparable, suggesting that approximately 50% of DNA was recombined. Because
mammary tissue also contains fat and stromal cells, the remainder of the 8-kb
fragment is probably derived largely from these cells. DNA was digested with
XbaI and the probe used was a 0.7-kb XhoI-EcoRI fragment.
d, Northern-blot analysis showing reduced amounts of Brca1 transcripts
in mammary glands isolated from P11.5 and P16.5 Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre
mice. A cDNA probe containing exons 10 and 12 of Brca1 was used
for hybridization. Two fragments of approximately 7.2 and 3.9 kb were detected
in all samples. We have previously shown that the 3.9-kb transcript is a natural  11
product, which creates an in-frame fusion between exons 10 and 12, whereas
the 7.2-kb band may represent the full-length transcript29.
Both bands were weaker in samples with Wap-Cre transgene. The same
filter was also incubated with a Gapd probe as control.
Full Figure and legend (36K) |
| |
Developmental abnormalities and increased apoptosis in Brca1
conditional mutant glands
Development of the mammary gland
proceeds in distinct stages. Ductal elongation and branching occurs mainly
during puberty, whereas alveolar proliferation and differentiation take place
during pregnancy26. Deletion of Brca1 from mammary epithelial
cells using the Wap-Cre transgene resulted in aberrant mammary development
(Fig. 3). We assessed ductal and alveolar development
of the fourth glands at different stages of pregnancy using whole-mount preparations.
At P8.5, mammary glands from Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre mice
were smaller than those of controls (Brca1Ko/+Wap-Cre,
Brca1Ko/+ or wild type; Fig. 3a,
b). At P16.5 the ductal tree in control mice completely filled
the fat pad; we observed substantial alveolar development (
Fig. 3d). In contrast, the mammary-specific mutant showed incomplete
development (Fig. 3c). Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre
mice (n=4) that exhibited more than 30% Cre-mediated recombination had
fat pads that were less than 80% filled. Despite continued hormonal signalling
throughout pregnancy, mutant mammary tissue failed to penetrate further into
the fat pad. In one extreme case found at P16.5, Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre
mammary tissue failed to develop in one-half of the fat pad (
Fig. 3e,f). Abnormal ductal morphogenesis was also observed
in mutant mammary glands at other stages of development, including lactation
(Fig. 3g,h) and involution (
Fig. 3i,j). Residual alveolar structures sometimes remained
in involuting Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre mammary glands (Fig. 3i), but not in control glands (
Fig. 3j). Mammary glands of Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre
females from different developmental stages also showed similar defects
(Fig. 4a, b, c, d). Despite
these abnormalities, dams were able to nurse their litters.
| | Figure 3. Abnormal mammary gland development in Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre
(a,c,e,f,g,i) and control (
b,d,h,j) mice. | | |  | a,b, P8.5 glands. c,d, P16.5 glands.
e, A P16.5 gland showing severely underdeveloped areas. Enlarged image
of area in rectangle is shown in (f). g,h, L1 glands.
Arrows point to empty space in fat pad. i,j, Involution
day 10 glands. Arrows indicate uninvoluted or hyperplastic areas. Lymph nodes
are indicated by white arrowheads.
Full Figure and legend (107K) |
| |
| | |
To identify the mechanisms underlying the restricted development of the
mammary gland, we performed TUNEL assay to determine the apoptotic status
of mammary tissue within four hours after parturition. We observed very low
levels of apoptosis in 9 control glands (Fig. 4e),
whereas extensive apoptosis occurred in 3 of 6 Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre
(Fig. 4f) and 1 of 3 Brca1Ko/Co
Wap-Cre (data not shown) glands. Northern-blot analysis indicated
that the extent of cell death correlates with amount of recombination. The
4 glands that exhibited extensive apoptosis had Brca1 transcripts that
were reduced 60-80%, and 2 other glands that demonstrated apoptosis to a lesser
extent had Brca1 transcripts that were reduced by approximately 30%
(data not shown).
Mammary-gland tumour formation in Brca1 conditional mutant
glands
Germline mutations in BRCA1 are responsible for
approximately 50% of human hereditary breast cancers4. Brca1
Ko/CoWap-Cre and Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre females
were therefore continuously mated and monitored for the formation of mammary-gland
tumours. Whole-mount staining and/or histological examination of the fourth
glands isolated from 20 female mice of 2-10 months revealed no tumour formation.
Hyperplastic areas, however, were found in four conditional mutant mammary
glands, but not in control glands (Fig. 5a,c).
Further analysis of mice at later ages (10-13 months) revealed 3 of 10
MMTV-Cre and 2 of 13 Wap-Cre females developed mammary
tumours of diverse types (Fig. 5e,f).
Mammary-gland tumour formation is accompanied by rearrangements
of chromosome 11
The low frequency and long latency of mammary
tumour formation led us to determine whether the tumours were a consequence
of Cre-mediated deletion. Using primers that simultaneously amplify both the
mutant allele (794 bp) and the unrecombined conditional allele (854 bp, due
to the presence of the 60-bp loxP site), we found that the intensities
of unrecombined conditional alleles were reduced in 3 tumours (
Fig. 6a, primers c/d, arrows), suggesting that most cells had
undergone Cre-mediated recombination. We were unable to detect the expected
PCR product of the recombined conditional allele in two of these samples,
whereas such product was detected in normal glands from the same animals (Fig. 6a, primers a/d). Although this observation suggests
the loss of Cre-mediated recombination product in these tumours, we detected
the loss of a Brca1Ko allele in another tumour (Fig. 6a, double arrow).
| | Figure 6. Genetic instability in tumours. | | |  | a, PCR analysis of tail (Ta), normal mammary glands (Ma) and tumours
(T). Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre tumour 1 (MMTV-T1, arrow) and
Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre tumour 1 (WAP-T1, arrow) showed reduced
intensities of the unrecombined conditional allele (top; primers c/d). The
predicted Cre-mediated recombination product, however, is not observed in
these tumours (primers a/d). One Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre-tumour
(WAP-T2, double arrow) did not show PCR product from the Brca1Ko
allele, suggesting that the allele may be lost. The last lane
(MMTV-T3) shows a tumour from a Brca1Co/CoMMTV-Cre female
that does not carry the Brca1Ko allele as predicted.
b, Northern-blot analysis using the entire mouse Trp53 cDNA as
a probe44. Trp53 transcripts were either increased in
size from 2 kb to 4 kb (WAP-T), lost (MMTV-T1) or unchanged (MMTV-T2). For
WAP tumour-1 and MMTV tumour-1, 2 samples with RNAs prepared from 2 different
parts of the tumours are shown. The first lane is RNA isolated from a wild-type
spleen (WT-Sp) as control. c, Metaphase spread from a MMTV tumour
labelled with a chromosome-11 painting probe (yellow) and counter-stained
with DAPI (blue). Enlarged copies of the translocated chromosomes are shown
at the bottom, flanking a copy of the 'unrearranged' chromosome 11. Approximate
breakpoints are indicated by black bars and the locations of Trp53
(p53) and Brca1 are indicated on the ideogram. A Giemsa-stained image
of the same metaphase spread is shown on the right. Chromosome paints were
prepared as described22. FISH analysis on all 3 tumours presented
in (b) was performed and chromosome-11 rearrangements were observed
in all cases. d, Loss of wild-type Trp53 (16-kb fragment)
in 4 of 5 tumours examined by EcoRI digestion. e, Loss of
Brca1Ko allele in tumour 1 (T1; 10.5 kb) and Cre-mediated
recombination product (T2, 3.5 kb) in Brca1ko/CoMMTV-CreTrp53
+/− mammary gland tumours. (Both WT and Brca1
Ko alleles are 10.5 kb, Brca1Co allele is
8 kb and recombination product is 3.5 kb upon XbaI digestion as shown
in Fig. 2.) T4 and T5 contain an unidentified fragment
(arrow).
Full Figure and legend (122K) |
| |
Our observations suggest that in addition to the Cre-mediated deletion
of Brca1 exon 11, further changes are also required for tumour formation.
This may include the rearrangement or loss of Brca1 and surrounding
regions of chromosome 11, which harbours several other known tumour-suppressor
genes, including Trp53 (ref. 27). To determine
if chromosomal changes are present in these tumour cells, we performed FISH
on metaphase spreads using a whole chromosome-11 painting probe. A representative
cell from the tumour is shown (Fig. 6c). Most
cells were near triploid, and contained 2 copies of chromosome 11, and 2 different
translocated chromosomes, 1 involving the distal and 1 the proximal portion
of chromosome 11. Two copies of each translocation were present, and the breakpoints
in chromosome 11 were located in bands B-D, which contain both Brca1
(11D; ref. 28) and Trp53 (11B; ref. 27). To determine whether Trp53 is indeed
involved, we studied its expression in tumours and found it to be altered
in 2 of 3 tumours. The normal transcript of Trp53 is approximately
2 kb, but we detected a message of approximately 4 kb in 1 tumour and no transcript
in the other (Fig. 6b). These data suggests a
possible role for Trp53 in Brca1-associated tumorigenesis, which may
include the loss or rearrangement of the gene. Rearrangements on other chromosomes
such as deletions, dicentric chromosomes and chromosome breakage are also
present in tumour cells (data not shown), indicating that the genomic instability
we observed in Brca1-11 deficient embryos29 is
recapitulated in these tumours.
A Trp53-null allele accelerates mammary-gland tumour formation
in Brca1 conditional mutant glands
Alterations of
Trp53 expression in Brca1 conditional mammary gland tumours are
reminiscent of human BRCA1 familial breast tumours, which frequently contain
TP53 mutations30,
31. Thus, it is important to address whether
TP53 alterations are relevant to breast tumour progression. TP53
is a well-known tumour-suppressor gene that is mutated in approximately 50%
of all human tumours32. It may be that TP53 alterations
represent one of the genetic changes required for BRCA1-associated tumorigenesis.
To test this hypothesis, we introduced a loss-of-function allele of Trp53
(ref. 33) into Brca1 conditional
mutant mice. Of 11 Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-CreTrp53+/−
females examined between 6 and 8 months of age, 8 developed mammary
gland tumours with several distinct histopathologies (Fig.
5g,h, and data not shown). Two mice had more than one
tumour (two and three tumours, respectively), and the remaining six carried
only one tumour. No tumours were observed in over 30 age-matched control mice
(Trp53+/−, Brca1Ko/+MMTV-CreTrp53
+/−, Brca1+/CoMMTV-CreTrp53+/−
, or Brca1Ko/CoTrp53+/−)
that had gone through at least 3 pregnancies. Southern-blot analysis of five
tumours indicated that all had undergone Cre-mediated recombination (Fig. 6e). Our data also showed that 4 of 5 tumours
lost or partially lost the wild-type Trp53 allele and 2 tumours lost
either the Brca1Ko allele or the product generated by
Cre-mediated recombination (Fig. 6d,e).
Compared with the tumour profile shown earlier, these data demonstrated that
the loss of Trp53 accelerated tumour formation in mammary glands from
mice with a specific deletion of Brca1.
Discussion
We have assessed the function of Brca1 in mammary-gland development and
neoplasia using the Cre-loxP recombination system under control of
the Wap and MMTV promoters. In the absence of the full-length
Brca1 isoform, mammary tissue fails to fully develop during pregnancy. The
ductal tree is incompletely formed and does not fully penetrate the mammary
fat pad. Cre-mediated excision of Brca1 exon 11 is frequently accompanied
by increased apoptosis. Notably, mammary-gland tumours develops in Brca1
Ko/CoWap-Cre and Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre mice
after a long latency. As the levels of Brca1 transcripts were reduced
to as low as 10% of controls, and Brca1 is a nuclear protein14
that may act in a cell-autonomous fashion, it is unlikely that the relatively
low incidence of tumour formation is due to the presence of residual Brca1.
Rather, it indicates that the loss of full-length Brca1 does not result in
a mutator phenotype observed in tumours with microsatellite instability34. We have previously shown that alternative splicing at exon 11
of Brca1 generates two major isoforms, that is, the full-length isoform
and a 11 isoform. Our conditional allele removes the full-length transcript,
but the 11 form is still transcribed. Using an isoform-knockout approach,
we have recently demonstrated that the full-length isoform of BRCA1 has an
essential role in maintaining genetic stability29. Mouse embryonic
fibroblast cells homozygous for the Brca1 exon-11 deletion exhibited
cellular proliferation defects and genetic instability caused by a defective
G2-M cell-cycle checkpoint and abnormal centrosome duplication29. Thus, Brca1 is likely to act as a 'caretaker' whose inactivation
does not directly promote tumour initiation. Instead, it increases mutation
rates of all genes, including tumour-suppressor genes and oncogenes35.
We propose the following model for the role of Brca1 in mouse mammary-gland
tumorigenesis (Fig. 7). Assuming that Brca1 functions
similarly in embryonic and mammary gland development, the disruption of
Brca1 in the mammary gland should inhibit its growth. The observations
that mammary glands carrying the conditional mutant exhibited defective developmental
patterns and increased apoptosis are consistent with this notion. Loss of
the BRCA1 full-length isoform, however, must at the same time trigger genetic
instability and allow chromosome alterations to occur. If accumulating changes
result in events that overcome proliferation defects and apoptosis, which
may be caused by the activation of p53, these cells may now have a growth
advantage resulting in hyperplasia, as observed in these mice. Subsequent
genetic instability may result in changes that eventually lead to tumorigenesis.
Because Brca1-related tumorigenesis is characterized by an initial growth
disadvantage, followed by subsequent genetic alterations, it is not unexpected
that tumorigenesis occurs after a long latency.
| | |
Our data have linked the Trp53 tumour-suppressor gene to Brca1-associated
tumorigenesis. Using chromosomal karyotyping and FISH analysis, we demonstrated
that chromosome 11, which harbours Trp53, is a target for genetic alterations.
We then showed that Trp53 mRNA is either deleted or altered in 2 of
3 tumours analysed. Our observations suggest that Trp53 may be one
of the genetic factors that inhibit tumour progression in Brca1 conditional
mutant mammary glands. We directly tested this hypothesis by introducing one
Trp53-null allele33 into conditional mutant mice. The acceleration
in tumour formation observed in Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-CreTrp53
+/− female mice provides direct genetic evidence that p53
is involved in Brca1-associated tumorigenesis. It was recently shown that
mice heterozygous for both Brca1 and Trp53 mutations (Brca1
+/−Trp53+/−) developed mammary gland
tumours at a low frequency on  -irradiation36. This is
consistent with our observation that the loss of p53 accelerates Brca1-associated
tumorigenesis. Notably, human BRCA1 familial breast tumours frequently exhibit
TP53 mutations30,
31. If our model for mouse Brca1-related
tumour progression is applicable to the human situation, we suggest that the
genetic instability associated with the loss of BRCA1 triggers mutation of
TP53, which in turn overcomes cellular proliferation defects and facilitates
tumour formation.
Identification of Trp53 as a major genetic factor in Brca1-associated
tumorigenesis does not necessarily exclude involvement of other factors. Indeed,
high degrees of aneuploidy and multiple structural aberrations were also detected
on other chromosomes other than chromosome 17 in human37 and
chromosome 11 in mouse (unpublished data). Mice with deletion of Brca1
in a tissue- and time-dependent manner provide a tool to identify these
additional factors important for the initiation and progression of breast
cancer. They should also serve as a model to study genetic pathways dysregulated
in human hereditary breast cancer, and facilitate therapeutical and chemoprevention
studies.
Methods
Targeting vector.
Recombinant phage containing overlapping
genomic DNA of the Brca1 locus were isolated from a 129SVJ-mouse library
(Stratagene). To construct the targeting vector for Brca1, a 3.5-kb
EcoRV-XhoI fragment 5´ to exon 11 of Brca1 was subcloned
into the XbaI and EcoRI sites of pLoxpneo (38). The resulting construct was cleaved with XhoI and
NotI, followed by insertion of a 5.5-kb XhoI-NotI fragment
(the NotI site is from the polylinker of the phage vector). A single
loxP site was inserted into the XhoI-NotI fragment at its
EcoRI site located in intron 11. The finished targeting construct is designated
pLoxpneoBrca1.
ES cell manipulation.
TC1 ES cells39
were transfected with NotI-digested pLoxpneoBrca1 and selected with
G418 and FIAU as described40. We removed ploxpneo from targeted
ES cells as described41, with the following modification to
enrich Cre-mediated recombination. After electroporation using 5  g of
DNA per 107 cells, we plated ES cells heterozygous for the
pLoxpneoBrca1-targeted allele at densities of 500-3,000 cells/10-cm plate.
After 6 d, 384 clones were picked and duplicated in 96-well plates. G418 was
added to one set of plates. After 3 d, we amplified G418-sensitive clones
(44/384) from the second set of the plates for further analysis. Two clones
were found that contained recombination that removed only neo. Three
additional clones contained a weak band resulting from unrecombined DNA. All
others (39/44) contained recombination that deleted neo and Brca1
exon 11.
Mating and genotyping mice.
Chimaeric mice were mated
with NIH Black Swiss females (Taconic) to screen for germline transformation.
Mice carrying a Brca1 conditional allele were genotyped by Southern
analysis or PCR (60 °C, 30 s; 72 °C, 1 min; 94 °C, 30 s; 30 cycles).
For PCR analysis, the following primers were used: (primer a, 5´-CTGGGTAGTTTGTAAGCATCC-3´;
primer b, 5´-CAATAAACTGCTGGTCTCAGGC-3´; primer c, 5´-GGAAATGGCAACTTGCCTAG-3´;
and primer d, 5´-CTGCGAGCAGTCTTCAGAAAG-3´). Primers 'a' and 'b'
flank the loxP insertion site in intron 10, and amplify a 470-bp fragment
from wild-type Brca1 and 530 bp from the conditional allele. Mice carrying
the Brca1-null allele22, Trp53 (33) and Wap-Cre or MMTV-Cre (25) were genotyped as described. Brca1Ko/CoWap-Cre
, Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-Cre or Brca1Ko/CoMMTV-CreTrp53
+/− females were kept with males for continuous mating.
Their pregnancy times were recorded. When sacrificed, one of the fourth glands
was used for whole-mount preparation and the other for DNA, RNA and/or histology
analysis.
Northern blots, TUNEL assay and whole-mount staining of mammary
glands.
RNA was isolated from mammary glands of P11.5-L1 females
using RNA Tet-60 based on the protocol recommended by the manufacturer (Tel-Test
"B"). We prepared poly(A)+ RNA using a kit (Pharmacia). Poly(A)
+ RNA (~10 g) from each sample was electrophoresed on a 1% agarose
gel and transferred to a Gene-Screen filter. TUNEL assay was carried as recommended
by the manufacturer (Oncor). We carried out whole-mount staining of mammary
glands as described42.
Received 12 March 1998; Accepted 2 April 1999
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