Of the GeneRacerTM kit (Invitrogen). Position of the detected transcription start sites are depicted with respect to the first nucleotide of exon 1 or 4. Height of the bars indicates the frequency of the detected transcripts. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056029.gof the PGK/neo cassette also caused upregulation at the protein level (Figure 5D) of NRAS.Nras Expression is Deregulated in Animals with a Cassette Inserted Upstream of the PromoterTo analyze the effect of insertion of an LTR upstream of the Nras promoter, we investigated tissues of adult animals heterozygous or homozygous for LTR3NS and LTR3NAS. These animals were phenotypically normal. We used the amplicon spanning exons 2 and 3 previously shown to correlate with protein levels as well as the amplicon spanning exons 6 and 7. The data (Figure 6) show that Nras expression is increased regardless of the orientation of the cassette, that heterozygous animals are intermediate between wt and homozygous knock-in animals, and that the LTR3NAS allele gives higher Nras expression than the LTR3NS allele. The two amplicons gave similar results. Hence, neither the LTR3NAS locus nor the LTR3NS locus cause significant activation of the cryptic promoter at the intron 3-exon 4 boundary as did LTR9NAS and LTR9AS. Since the PGK/Tn5 cassette in these 301-00-8 strains is located further upstream from the Nras promoter, we did not investigate the effect of Cre-mediated cassette excision upon Nras expression.DiscussionTo address how retroviral insertional mutagenesis in the germ line or in somatic tissues may deregulate host genes and cause disease we have generated a series of novel mouse strains which harbor an LTR inserted at the Nras locus at positions previously identified as targets for retroviral insertions in B-cell lymphomas [7]. None of the knock-in alleles cause embryonic lethality neither as homozygotes or heterozygotes. However, mice homozygous for the allele causing the highest over-expression of Nras in the spleen, manifest with a phenotype of granulocytosis, T-cell expansion, and decease within three weeks after birth [9]. The knock-in alleles showed deregulation of Nras ranging from more than ten-fold upregulation to a downregulation of three fold. Expression levels in heterozygotes were intermediates between wild type and homozygous knock-in animals. In spleen, the order of expression of mRNA including the coding exons of Nras among the different alleles 18325633 was: LTR9S.LTR3NAS.LTR9NS.LTR3NS. LTR9AS.wt.LTR9NAS. The values observed in adult tissues roughly corresponded to those of the engineered embryonic stem cells used to AKT inhibitor 2 biological activity generate the mouse lines, when considering that the ES cells are heterozygous for the knock-in allele. In the present study as well as in a recent publication [9], we have used the knock-in alleles for constitutive deregulation only. However, since we observed an increased level of Nras mRNA in adult tissues following germ-line excision of the PGK/ neo, the alleles can also be used to address questions of the effect of tissue-specific or induced over-expression of wt Nras. A number of tools for tissue specific or inducible activation of Cre recombinase can be used for such studies [12?3]. For position 3, upstream of the Nras promoter, both cassette orientations gave rise to an increase in Nras expression, however, the antisense orientation to a higher level than did the senseorientation, originally detected in the B-cell lymphoma [7]. The antisense orientation upstream of a promo.Of the GeneRacerTM kit (Invitrogen). Position of the detected transcription start sites are depicted with respect to the first nucleotide of exon 1 or 4. Height of the bars indicates the frequency of the detected transcripts. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056029.gof the PGK/neo cassette also caused upregulation at the protein level (Figure 5D) of NRAS.Nras Expression is Deregulated in Animals with a Cassette Inserted Upstream of the PromoterTo analyze the effect of insertion of an LTR upstream of the Nras promoter, we investigated tissues of adult animals heterozygous or homozygous for LTR3NS and LTR3NAS. These animals were phenotypically normal. We used the amplicon spanning exons 2 and 3 previously shown to correlate with protein levels as well as the amplicon spanning exons 6 and 7. The data (Figure 6) show that Nras expression is increased regardless of the orientation of the cassette, that heterozygous animals are intermediate between wt and homozygous knock-in animals, and that the LTR3NAS allele gives higher Nras expression than the LTR3NS allele. The two amplicons gave similar results. Hence, neither the LTR3NAS locus nor the LTR3NS locus cause significant activation of the cryptic promoter at the intron 3-exon 4 boundary as did LTR9NAS and LTR9AS. Since the PGK/Tn5 cassette in these strains is located further upstream from the Nras promoter, we did not investigate the effect of Cre-mediated cassette excision upon Nras expression.DiscussionTo address how retroviral insertional mutagenesis in the germ line or in somatic tissues may deregulate host genes and cause disease we have generated a series of novel mouse strains which harbor an LTR inserted at the Nras locus at positions previously identified as targets for retroviral insertions in B-cell lymphomas [7]. None of the knock-in alleles cause embryonic lethality neither as homozygotes or heterozygotes. However, mice homozygous for the allele causing the highest over-expression of Nras in the spleen, manifest with a phenotype of granulocytosis, T-cell expansion, and decease within three weeks after birth [9]. The knock-in alleles showed deregulation of Nras ranging from more than ten-fold upregulation to a downregulation of three fold. Expression levels in heterozygotes were intermediates between wild type and homozygous knock-in animals. In spleen, the order of expression of mRNA including the coding exons of Nras among the different alleles 18325633 was: LTR9S.LTR3NAS.LTR9NS.LTR3NS. LTR9AS.wt.LTR9NAS. The values observed in adult tissues roughly corresponded to those of the engineered embryonic stem cells used to generate the mouse lines, when considering that the ES cells are heterozygous for the knock-in allele. In the present study as well as in a recent publication [9], we have used the knock-in alleles for constitutive deregulation only. However, since we observed an increased level of Nras mRNA in adult tissues following germ-line excision of the PGK/ neo, the alleles can also be used to address questions of the effect of tissue-specific or induced over-expression of wt Nras. A number of tools for tissue specific or inducible activation of Cre recombinase can be used for such studies [12?3]. For position 3, upstream of the Nras promoter, both cassette orientations gave rise to an increase in Nras expression, however, the antisense orientation to a higher level than did the senseorientation, originally detected in the B-cell lymphoma [7]. The antisense orientation upstream of a promo.
