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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, METHODS. Meshes: Acetylation, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Biomarkers, Blastocyst, Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial, Cloning, Molecular, Embryo, Mammalian, Female, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Silencing, Genes, Lethal, Histones, Humans, Male, Mi-2 Nucleosome Remodeling and Deacetylase Complex, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutation, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Phenotype, Repressor Proteins, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid.
user
Are mutants in the mouse NuRD/Mi2 component P66alpha embryonic lethal? Context: The NuRD/Mi2 chromatin complex is involved in histone modifications and contains a large number of subunits, including the p66 protein. There are two mouse and human p66 paralogs, p66alpha and p66beta. The functions of these genes are not clear, in part because there are no mutants available, except in invertebrate model systems. We made loss of function mutants in the mouse p66alpha gene (mp66alpha, official name Gatad2a, MGI:2384585). We found that mp66alpha is essential for development, as mutant embryos die around day 10 of embryogenesis. The gene is not required for normal blastocyst development or for implantation. The phenotype of mutant embryos and the pattern of gene expression in mutants are consistent with a role of mp66alpha in gene silencing.
assistant
mp66alpha is an essential gene, required for early mouse development. The lethal phenotype supports a role in execution of methylated DNA silencing. Final Decision: yes