Generation and characterization of endonuclease G null mice.

ABSTRACT: Endonuclease G (endo G) is one of the most abundant nucleases in eukaryotic cells. It is encoded in the nucleus and imported to the mitochondrial intermembrane space. This nuclease is active on single- and double-stranded DNA. We genetically disrupted the endo G gene in mice without disturbing a conserved, overlapping gene of unknown function that is oriented tail to tail with the endo G gene. In these mice, the production of endo G protein is not detected, and the disruption abolishes the nuclease activity of endo G. The absence of endo G has no effect on mitochondrial DNA copy number, structure, or mutation rate over the first five generations. There is also no obvious effect on nuclear DNA degradation in standard apoptosis assays. The endo G null mice are viable and show no age-related

SUBMITTER: Irvine RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC538798 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature