After 20 years researchers locate the mutant gene cloche

Researchers at the Max Plank Institute led by Didier Stainier, Director of the Department of Developmental Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim, have located cloche – a mutant gene present in one of the model organism zebrafish that prevented the development of both blood vessels and blood cells in the zebrafish. While cloche was detected 20 years ago, researchers worldwide struggled to locate it. To identify its location, the researchers used the CRISPR/Cas9 method to analyze data from 26,000 genes in total, from which they zeroed in on 17 genes. From these they succeeded in finding cloche at the very end of chromosome 13. Cloche is important because it activation precedes the activation of all genes that are involved in the vessel formation in an embryo. Thus, its discovery can prove to be important for regenerative medicine.

Read more in Science Daily.