研究発表を行った学会； 20th IUBMB International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and 11th FAOBMB Congress.
　　　２００６年６月１８日〜２３日 (Kyoto)
タイトル； Interactions of Sickle tail (Skt) gene with Danforth short tail (Sd) locus and enhancer trap locus Etl4lacZ in development of the intervertebral discintervertebral disc.
発表者；仙波　圭　氏
　　　（熊本大学　発生医学研究センター　臓器形成分野）
Abstract；
We established the mutant mouse line, B6;CB-SktGtAyu8021IMEG (SktGt), through gene-trap mutagenesis in embryonic stem cells. The trapped gene identified, called Sickle tail (Skt), is composed of 19 exons and encodes a protein of 1352 amino acids. Expression of a reporter gene was detected in the notochord during embryogenesis and in the nucleus pulposus of mice. Compression of some of the nuclei pulposi in the intervertebral discs (IVDs) appeared at embryonic day (E) 17.5, resulting in a kinky-tail phenotype showing defects in the nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus of IVDs in SktGt/Gt mice. These phenotypes were different from those in Danforth's short tail (Sd) mice in which the nucleus pulposus was totally absent and replaced by peripheral fibers similar to those seen in the annulus fibrosus in all IVDs. The Skt gene maps to the proximal part of mouse chromosome 2, near the Sd locus. The genetic distance between them was 0.95 cM. The number of vertebrae in both [Sd +/+ SktGt] and [Sd SktGt/+ +] compound heterozygotes was less than that of Sd heterozygotes. Furthermore, the enhancer trap locus Etl4lacZ, which was previously reported to be an allele of Sd, was located in the third intron of the Skt gene.