Global Deletion of TSPO Does Not Affect the Viability and Gene Expression Profile.. Mus musculus

Translocator Protein (18kDa, TSPO) is a mitochondria outer membrane transmembrane protein and which expression is elevated during inflammation and injury. However, the exact function of TSPO is still controversial. Here, we constructed TSPO global knockout (KO) mice by Cre-LoxP system independently, which abolished TSPO protein expression in all tissues and shown normal phenotypes. The birth rate of TSPO heterozygote (Het)/Het breeding was consistent with the Mendel’s Law, suggesting a normal viability of TSPO KO mice at birth. RNAseq analysis showed no significant difference in the gene expression profile of lung tissues from TSPO KO mice compared with that of wild type mice, even the genes associated with bronchial alveoli immune homeostasis. The alveolar macrophage population was also not affected by TSPO deletion in the physiological condition. Our findings contradicts the results of Papadopoulos, but confirmed Selvaraj’s findings. This study reveals TSPO deficiency does not affect the viability and bronchial alveoli immune homeostasis. Overall design: Lung tissue mRNA profiles of wild type (WT) and TSPO knockout (KO) mice were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina’s digital gene expression tag profiling (DGE) system, in triplicate. Every lung tissue RNA samples [WT (D,H,Z) and KO (B,F,M)] were pooled from three tissue samples of littermates.