Zona occludens-2 is critical for blood-testis barrier integrity and male fertility.

ABSTRACT: Tight junction integral membrane proteins such as claudins and occludin are tethered to the actin cytoskeleton by adaptor proteins, notably the closely related zonula occludens (ZO) proteins ZO-1, ZO-2, and ZO-3. All three ZO proteins have recently been inactivated in mice. Although ZO-3 knockout mice lack an obvious phenotype, animals deficient in ZO-1 or ZO-2 show early embryonic lethality. Here, we rescue the embryonic lethality of ZO-2 knockout mice by injecting ZO-2(-/-) embryonic stem (ES) cells into wild-type blastocysts to generate viable ZO-2 chimera. ZO-2(-/-) ES cells contribute extensively to different tissues of the chimera, consistent with an extraembryonic requirement for ZO-2 rather than a critical role in epiblast development. Adult chimera present a set of phenotypes in d

SUBMITTER: Xu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2762135 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature