MicroRNA-8 and its target gene, u-shaped (ush), regulate body size in Drosophila. As the mouse homolog of the Drosophila miR-8, whether the miR-200 family has similar functions and how they perform their regulatory roles in body size control is unknown. In order to discover the biological function of the miR-200s in vivo, we generated mice lacking the miR-200b/200a/429 gene cluster using the Cre/loxp system. miR-200b/200a/429 null mutant mice were viable, fertile, and showed normal development.
Keywords: Cre-loxp; Gene targeting; MicroRNA-200s.