Dominant lethal pathologies in male mice engineered to contain an X-linked DUX4 transgene

Abhijit Dandapat; Darko Bosnakovski; Lynn M Hartweck; Robert W Arpke; Kristen A Baltgalvis; Derek Vang; June Baik; Radbod Darabi; Rita C R Perlingeiro; F Kent Hamra; Kalpna Gupta; Dawn A Lowe; Michael Kyba

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.07.056

Dominant lethal pathologies in male mice engineered to contain an X-linked DUX4 transgene

Cell Rep. 2014 Sep 11;8(5):1484-96. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.07.056. Epub 2014 Aug 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 2231 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 2231 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
² Program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
³ Vascular Biology Center, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation, Department of Medicine MMC 480, 420 Delaware Street SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
⁴ Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 2231 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, 312 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology, Cecil H. and Ida Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
⁶ Lillehei Heart Institute, University of Minnesota, 2231 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 2231 6th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an enigmatic disease associated with epigenetic alterations in the subtelomeric heterochromatin of the D4Z4 macrosatellite repeat. Each repeat unit encodes DUX4, a gene that is normally silent in most tissues. Besides muscular loss, most patients suffer retinal vascular telangiectasias. To generate an animal model, we introduced a doxycycline-inducible transgene encoding DUX4 and 3' genomic DNA into a euchromatic region of the mouse X chromosome. Without induction, DUX4 RNA was expressed at low levels in many tissues and animals displayed a variety of unexpected dominant leaky phenotypes, including male-specific lethality. Remarkably, rare live-born males expressed DUX4 RNA in the retina and presented a retinal vascular telangiectasia. By using doxycycline to induce DUX4 expression in satellite cells, we observed impaired myogenesis in vitro and in vivo. This mouse model, which shows pathologies due to FSHD-related D4Z4 sequences, is likely to be useful for testing anti-DUX4 therapies in FSHD.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cells, Cultured
Disease Models, Animal
Euchromatin / genetics
Genes, Dominant*
Genes, X-Linked*
Homeodomain Proteins / genetics*
Homeodomain Proteins / metabolism
Male
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral / genetics*
Muscular Dystrophy, Facioscapulohumeral / pathology
Phenotype
RNA, Messenger / genetics
RNA, Messenger / metabolism
Retina / metabolism
Retina / pathology

Substances

Dux4 protein, mouse
Euchromatin
Homeodomain Proteins
RNA, Messenger

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding