Figure 1.

Overall Strategy of conditional YY1 KD. (A) Schematic representation of the pSico-YY1 shRNA vector. The U6 promoter is separated from the downstream YY1-shRNA sequence by the EGFP expression cassette. Cre recombinase, available as a transgenic allele, recognizes the two TATA-loxP sites and joins these two split regions, resulting in the production of the YY1 shRNA sequence, which leads to KD. The sequence in blue is the leader sequence of the U6 RNA gene, which has been added to increase the stability of the YY1 shRNA, and the sequence in red is the sequence of the YY1 shRNA. (B) Conditional KD scheme for gametogenesis. The pSico-YY1 transgenic line was crossed with one of two germ cell-specific Cre mice: Protamine-Cre for spermatogenesis and Zp3-Cre for oogenesis. The resulting F1 mice were used for testing potential effects of YY1 KD during either spermatogenesis or oogenesis.