Anterior and Posterior regions of mouse embryos with combinatory mutations of Fuz and Gpr161

Gpr161 and Fuz are Shh signaling molecules, and both null mutations are associated with neural tube defects in mice. As their genetic relationship in Shh signaling during neural tube development is unknown, we generated double homozygous null mutant mice for phenotyping and associated molecular changes. We observed the rescued NTD phenotypes in double homozygous null mutant embryos compared to those in single Gpr161 null mutant embryos. However, the range of rescued phenotypes is distinct between anterior and posterior NTDs. Therefore, we sought to identify the comparison in gene expression between the anterior and posterior regions of each genotype embryos and between each genotype.