Characterization of Ythdf2 in mice
I. The purpose of the experiment/project: Continue the study of Ythdf2 in early development in vivo with constitutive, conditional and reporter animals.
II. The expected adverse effects on the animals: For the constitutive animals, in our experience, when the mice are Ythdf2 deficient (knock-out; KO) they are embryo lethal, and heterozygous (het) mice live as long as their wildtype (WT) littermates without any noticeable adverse effects. The conditional animals do not show any harm, their litters and lives are just like the ones in WT animals and so will the reporter animals, not showing any adverse effects in their general condition due to the knock-in genes that they present.
III. The expected scientific benefits or benefits for society: Knockout embryos for Ythdf2 do not live 3 weeks after birth meaning this gene plays a key role in development. Any knowledge derived from our research could be useful for further studies about fertility, embriogenesis and neural development. Moreover, new literature suggests that the methyl-6-adenosine mRNA modification has an important role in some types of cancer.
IV. The number of animals and species: We would like to use around 842 (768 previously approved + 74 for this experiment) mice (Mus musculus) of the strain C57BL/6 in a period of 4 years.
V. How will the requirements for 3R be accomplished by the experiment/project: For replacement we will stablish cell cultures to develop our studies. We will reduce the number of mice by breeding homozygous mice when possible and superovulating the females in the corresponding experiments to optimize the number of cells we are obtaining from every individual mouse. We will also use WT adults in our other projects for breedings when necessary. The refinement is based mostly on our previous experience with these mice throughout the years.
II. The expected adverse effects on the animals: For the constitutive animals, in our experience, when the mice are Ythdf2 deficient (knock-out; KO) they are embryo lethal, and heterozygous (het) mice live as long as their wildtype (WT) littermates without any noticeable adverse effects. The conditional animals do not show any harm, their litters and lives are just like the ones in WT animals and so will the reporter animals, not showing any adverse effects in their general condition due to the knock-in genes that they present.
III. The expected scientific benefits or benefits for society: Knockout embryos for Ythdf2 do not live 3 weeks after birth meaning this gene plays a key role in development. Any knowledge derived from our research could be useful for further studies about fertility, embriogenesis and neural development. Moreover, new literature suggests that the methyl-6-adenosine mRNA modification has an important role in some types of cancer.
IV. The number of animals and species: We would like to use around 842 (768 previously approved + 74 for this experiment) mice (Mus musculus) of the strain C57BL/6 in a period of 4 years.
V. How will the requirements for 3R be accomplished by the experiment/project: For replacement we will stablish cell cultures to develop our studies. We will reduce the number of mice by breeding homozygous mice when possible and superovulating the females in the corresponding experiments to optimize the number of cells we are obtaining from every individual mouse. We will also use WT adults in our other projects for breedings when necessary. The refinement is based mostly on our previous experience with these mice throughout the years.