Various mouse strains and embryonic stem cell lines useful in studying Musashi 1 and/or 2 signaling
The mammalian Musashi (Msi) protein family consists of two members, Musashi 1 (Msi1) and Musashi 2 (Msi2), which are RNA binding proteins that have been shown to regulate stem cell self-renewal and tumorigenesis in numerous tissues. While the initial in vitro studies have laid the groundwork for understanding the molecular function of Msi proteins, it has been a challenge to study the role of this protein family in vivo, due to functional redundancy between Msi1 and Msi2 and embryonic lethality of Msi1-/-/Msi2-/- double knockout mice (unpublished).
Research in the laboratory of Dr. Chris Lengner has resulted in the development of multiple tools for the in vivo investigation of Msi family protein function. These tools enable spatio-temporal control of Msi1 and/or Msi2 gain and loss of function:
- Doxycycline-inducible Msi1 transgenic mouse strain
- Msi1 Conditional knockout mouse strain (designated Msi1flox/flox)
- Msi1/2 Conditional knockout mouse strain (designated Msi1flox/flox; Msi2flox/flox)
- Msi1/2 knockout mouse embryonic stem cells
- Doxycycline-inducible Msi1 mouse embryonic stem cells
- Doxycycline-inducible Msi2 mouse embryonic stem cells
- Msi2 Conditional knockout mouse strain (Msi2flox/flox - available via Jackson Laboratories))
- Doxycycline-inducible Msi2 transgenic mouse strain (available via Jackson Laboratories)