BackgroundThe mouse inbred line C57BL/6J is widely used in mouse genetics and its genome has been incorporated into many genetic reference populations. More recently large initiatives such as the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) are using the C57BL/6N mouse strain to generate null alleles for all mouse genes. Hence both strains are now widely used in mouse genetics studies. Here we perform a comprehensive genomic and phenotypic analysis of the two strains to identify differences that may influence their underlying genetic mechanisms.ResultsWe undertake genome sequence comparisons of C57BL/6J and C57BL/6N to identify SNPs, indels and structural variants, with a focus on identifying all coding variants. We annotate 34 SNPs and 2 indels that distinguish C57BL/6J and C57BL/6N coding sequences, as well as 15 structural variants that overlap a gene. In parallel we assess the comparative phenotypes of the two inbred lines utilizing the EMPReSSslim phenotyping pipeline, a broad based assessment encompassing diverse biological systems. We perform additional secondary phenotyping assessments to explore other phenotype domains and to elaborate phenotype differences identified in the primary assessment. We uncover significant phenotypic differences between the two lines, replicated across multiple centers, in a number of physiological, biochemical and behavioral systems.ConclusionsComparison of C57BL/6J and C57BL/6N demonstrates a range of phenotypic differences that have the potential to impact upon penetrance and expressivity of mutational effects in these strains. Moreover, the sequence variants we identify provide a set of candidate genes for the phenotypic differences observed between the two strains.

Background Stress-induced hypertrophic remodeling is a critical pathogenetic process leading to heart failure. While many signal transduction cascades are demonstrated as important regulators to facilitate the induction of cardiac hypertrophy, the signaling pathways for suppressing hypertrophic remodeling remain largely unexplored. In this study, we identified p21-activated kinase 1 (Pak1) as a novel signaling regulator which antagonizes cardiac hypertrophy. Methods and Results Hypertrophic stress applied to primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs), or murine hearts caused the activation of Pak1. Analysis of NRCMs expressing constitutively active Pak1 or in which Pak1 was silenced disclosed that Pak1 played an anti-hypertrophic role. To investigate the in vivo role of Pak1 in the heart, we generated mice with a cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Pak1 (Pak1cko). When subject to 2 weeks of pressure overload, Pak1cko mice compared to controls, developed greater cardiac hypertrophy with attendant blunting of JNK activation, and these knockout mice underwent the transition into heart failure when prolonged stress was applied. In addition, chronic angiotensin II infusion also caused increased cardiac hypertrophy in Pak1cko mice. Moreover, we discovered that the Pak1 activator FTY720, a sphingosine-like analogue, was able to prevent pressure overload-induced hypertrophy in wild-type mice, without compromising their cardiac functions. Meanwhile FTY720 failed to exert such an effect on Pak1cko mice, suggesting that the anti-hypertrophic effect of FTY720 likely acts through Pak1 activation. Conclusions These results, for the first time, establish Pak1 as a novel anti-hypertrophic regulator and suggest that it may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Background-Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) has recently been shown to be a major regulator of cardiac contractility. In a cellular system, we have previously shown that nNOS is regulated by the isoform 4b of plasma membrane calcium/calmodulin-dependent ATPase (PMCA4b) through direct interaction mediated by a PDZ domain (PSD 95, Drosophilia Discs large protein and Zona occludens-1) on nNOS and a cognate ligand on PMCA4b. It remains unknown, however, whether this interaction has physiological relevance in the heart in vivo. Methods and Results-We generated 2 strains of transgenic mice overexpressing either human PMCA4b or PMCA ct120 in the heart. PMCA ct120 is a highly active mutant form of the pump that does not interact with or modulate nNOS function. Calcium was extruded normally from PMCA4b-overexpressing cardiomyocytes, but in vivo, overexpression of PMCA4b reduced the ␤-adrenergic contractile response. This attenuated response was not observed in ct120 transgenic mice. Treatment with a specific nNOS inhibitor (N-propyl-L-arginine) reduced the ␤-adrenergic response in wild-type and ct120 transgenic mice to levels comparable to those of PMCA4b transgenic animals. No differences in lusitropic response were observed in either transgenic strain compared with wild-type littermates. Conclusions-These data demonstrate the physiological relevance of the interaction between PMCA4b and nNOS and suggests its signaling role in the heart. (Circulation. 2007;115:483-492.)