Generation of a conditionally null allele of hnf4α

• Published in: Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 130 - 133
• Main Authors: Parviz, Fereshteh, Li, Jixuan, Kaestner, Klaus H., Duncan, Stephen A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.02.2002
• ISSN: 1526-954X; 1526-968X
• DOI: 10.1002/gene.10058

The hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 hnf4 alpha is a member of the steroid hormone receptor family that plays an important role in regulation of hepatic gene expression. It has been shown that complete loss of hnf4 alpha results in embryonic lethality caused by defects in visceral endoderm function. This early embryonic lethality can be overcome by complementing the hnf4 alpha null embryos with an hnf4 alpha super(+/-) visceral endoerm by tertaploid aggregation, Unfortunately, we were unable to generate late-stage embryos using this procedure that were suitable for the analysis of hnf4 alpha 's role in live morphogenesis. Herew we describe the generation of a conditionally null allele of hnf4 alpha that will be suitable for this purpose.