A novel mouse model carrying a gene trap insertion into the Hmgxb4 gene locus to examine Hmgxb4 expression in vivo.

HMG (high mobility group) proteins are a diverse family of nonhistone chromosomal proteins that interact with DNA and a wide range of transcriptional regulators to regulate the structural architecture of DNA. HMGXB4 (also known as HMG2L1) is an HMG protein family member that contains a single HMG box domain. Our previous studies have demonstrated that HMGXB4 suppresses smooth muscle differentiation and exacerbates endotoxemia by promoting a systemic inflammatory response in mice. However, the expression of Hmgxb4 in vivo has not fully examined. Herein, we generated a mouse model that harbors a gene trap in the form of a lacZ gene insertion into the Hmgxb4 gene. This mouse enables the visualization of endogenous HMGXB4 expression in different tissues via staining for the β-galactosidase activity of LacZ which is under the control of the endogenous Hmgxb4 gene promoter. We found that HMGXB4 is widely expressed in mouse tissues and is a nuclear protein. Furthermore, the Hmgxb4 gene trap mice exhibit normal cardiac function and blood pressure. Measurement of β-galactosidase activity in the Hmgxb4 gene trap mice demonstrated that the arterial injury significantly induces Hmgxb4 expression. In summary, the Hmgxb4 gene trap reporter mouse described here provides a valuable tool to examine the expression level of endogenous Hmgxb4 in both physiological and pathological settings in vivo. © 2024 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.

Citation

Liang Wang, Xiangqin He, Guoqing Hu, Jinhua Liu, Xiuhua Kang, Luyi Yu, Kunzhe Dong, Juanjuan Zhao, Aizhen Zhang, Wei Zhang, Michael W Brands, Huabo Su, Zeqi Zheng, Jiliang Zhou. A novel mouse model carrying a gene trap insertion into the Hmgxb4 gene locus to examine Hmgxb4 expression in vivo. Physiological reports. 2024 Apr;12(8):e16014

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PMID: 38644513

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