mortality/aging
• homozygous null embryos died between 4.0 and 4.5 dpc, following depletion of maternally-derived gene product in mutant hatched blastocysts
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cellular
N |
• homozygous null embryonic stem cells were not viable
• BrdU labeling and DNA content analysis indicated that cultured cells progressed through the S phase and became arrested in the G2 phase of their cell cycle
• collapsed embryos showed no evidence of nuclear pore complex clustering, apoptosis, or other defects in their nuclear envelope
• however, collapsed mutant embryos exhibited impaired NLS-mediated protein transport, as well as nuclear accumulation of polyadenylated RNA; both abnormalities coincided with depletion of maternally-derived product
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embryo
N |
• at 3.5 dpc, homozygous null blastocysts were fully represented (25%), and appeared morphologically indistinguishable from wild-type blastocysts
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• in vitro, the blastocoel of homozygous null embryos gradually became smaller and completely collapsed during 18-24 hours of culture
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