Deficiency of lysyl hydroxylase 2 in mice causes systemic endoplasmic reticulum stress leading to early embryonic lethality

A Kasamatsu, K Uzawa, F Hayashi, A Kita… - Biochemical and …, 2019 - Elsevier
A Kasamatsu, K Uzawa, F Hayashi, A Kita, Y Okubo, T Saito, Y Kimura, I Miyamoto, N Oka…
Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 2019Elsevier
Abstract Lysyl hydroxylase 2 (LH2) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident enzyme that
catalyzes the hydroxylation of lysine residues in the telopeptides of fibrillar collagens. This is
a critical modification to determine the fate of collagen cross-linking pathway that contributes
to the stability of collagen fibrils. Studies have demonstrated that the aberrant LH2 function
causes various diseases including osteogenesis imperfecta, fibrosis, and cancer metastasis.
However, surprisingly, a LH2-deficient animal model has not been reported. In the current …
Abstract
Lysyl hydroxylase 2 (LH2) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident enzyme that catalyzes the hydroxylation of lysine residues in the telopeptides of fibrillar collagens. This is a critical modification to determine the fate of collagen cross-linking pathway that contributes to the stability of collagen fibrils. Studies have demonstrated that the aberrant LH2 function causes various diseases including osteogenesis imperfecta, fibrosis, and cancer metastasis. However, surprisingly, a LH2-deficient animal model has not been reported. In the current study, to better understand the function of LH2, we generated LH2 gene knockout mice by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. LH2 deficiency was confirmed by genotyping polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcriptase-PCR, and immunohistochemical analyses. Homozygous LH2 knockout (LH2−/−) embryos failed to develop normally and died at early embryonic stage E10.5 with abnormal common ventricle in a heart, i.e., an insufficient wall, a thin ventricular wall, and loosely packed cells. In the LH2−/− mice, the ER stress-responsive genes, ATF4 and CHOP were significantly up-regulated leading to increased levels of Bax and cleaved caspase-3. These data indicate that LH2 plays an essential role in cardiac development through an ER stress-mediated apoptosis pathway.
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