Gene expression in TAZ knockout and control hearts in different strain backgrounds.

TAZ knockout (KO/Y) and littermate control (WT/Y) mice were generated by crossing TAZ(KO/X) females in the C57BL6J background to male mice from C57BL6J, CAST/EiJ or A/J backgrounds. F1 mutant males in C57 and CAST-F1 backgrounds had cardiomyopathy and low heart function, whereas A/J F1 mutant males had normal heart function. Overall design: Within each genetic background (C57/J, CAST-F1, AJ-F1), we compared KO/Y to WT/Y littermates at 2 months of age. Ventricular tissue was used for RNA isolation.