A novel hypomorphic Looptail allele at the planar cell polarity Vangl2 gene

Vangl2 forms part of the planar cell polarity signalling pathway and is the gene defective in the Looptail (Lp) mouse mutant. Two previously described alleles, Lp and Lpm1Jus, segregate in a semi-dominant fashion, with heterozygotes displaying the looped-tail appearance, while homozygotes show the neural tube defect called craniorachischisis. Here, we report a novel experimentally induced allele, Lpm2Jus, that carries a missense mutation, R259L, in Vangl2. This mutation was specific to the Lp phenotype and absent from both parental strains and 28 other inbred strains. Notably, this mutation segregates in a recessive manner with all heterozygotes appearing normal and 47% of homozygotes showing a looped-tail. Homozygous Lpm2Jus embryos showed spina bifida in 12%. Lpm2Jus genetically interacts with Lp with 77% of compound heterozygotes displaying craniorachischisis. Vangl2R259L behaved like the wild-type allele in overexpression and morpholino knockdown/rescue assays in zebrafish embryos. These data suggest that Lpm2Jus represents a new hypomorphic allele of Lp.