A novel murine gene, Sickle tail, linked to the Danforth's short tail locus, is required for normal development of the intervertebral disc

We established the mutant mouse line, B6;CB-Skt(Gt Delta vu802HMEGEG) (Skt(Gt)), through gene-trap mutagenesis in embryonic stem cells. The novel gene identified, called Sickle tail (Slit), is composed of 19 exons and encodes a protein of 1352 amino acids. Expression of a reporter gene was detected in the notochord during embryogenesis and in the nucleus pulposus of mice. Compression of some of the nuclei pulposi in the intervertebral discs (IVDs) appeared at embryonic day (E) 17.5, resulting in a kinky-tail phenotype showing defects in the nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus of IVDs in Skt(Gt/Gt) mice. These phenotypes were different from those in Danforth's short tail (Sd) mice in which the nucleus pulposus was totally absent and replaced by peripheral fibers similar to those seen in the annulus fibrosus in all IVDs. The Ski gene maps to the proximal part of mouse chromosome 2, near the Sd locus. The genetic distance between them was 0.95 cM. The number of vertebrae in both [Sd +/+ Skt(Gt)] and [Sd Skt(Gt)/+ +] compound heterozygotes was less than that of Sd heterozygotes. Furthermore, the enhancer trap locus Etl4(lacZ), which was previously reported to be an allele of Sd, was located in the third intron of the Ski gene.