Abstract
Pudgy (pu) homozygous mice exhibit clear patterning defects at the earliest stages of somitogenesis, resulting in adult mice with severe vertebral and rib deformities1. By positional cloning and complementation, we have determined that the pu phenotype is caused by a mutation in the delta-like 3 gene (Dll3), which is homologous to the Notch-ligand Delta in Drosophila. Histological and molecular marker analyses show that the pu mutation disrupts the proper formation of morphological borders in early somite formation and of rostral-caudal compartment boundaries within somites. Viability analysis also indicates an important role in early development. The results point to a key role for a Notch -signalling pathway in the initiation of patterning of vertebrate paraxial mesoderm.
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Acknowledgements
We thank K. Devon, C. Dunbar, M. Nguyen, J. Reis, M. Velez-Stringer, D. Wilcomb and J. Williams for invaluable technical assistance; and P. Bain, L. Bradley, M. Daly, J. Dausmann, W. Dietrich, L. Gammill, H. Gardner, A. Gossler, B. Hamilton, J. Hästbacka, T. Hawkins, H. Jacob, P. Kolm, J. Lanni, F. Lewitter, P. Kolm, A. MacMurray, J. Nemhauser, A. Pettersson, M.P. Reeve, C. Rosenberg, J. Segrè and A. Sidow for technical advice. Key reagents were provided by R. Beddington, S. Dunwoodie, A. Gossler, M. Haldi, B. Hogan, R. Johnson, C. Kozak and A. MacMahon. We thank L. Bradley, D. Fambrough and A. Sidow for comments on the manuscript, and R. Johnson and T. Gridley for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by NIH grants (E.S.L, B.L.B., R.T.B. and W.N.F.) and a Klingenstein Fellowship (W.N.F.).
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Kusumi, K., Sun, E., Kerrebrock, A. et al. The mouse pudgy mutation disrupts Delta homologue Dll3 and initiation of early somite boundaries. Nat Genet 19, 274–278 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/961
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/961
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