Figure 1. Osteoblast-specific Sox2 conditional knock-out mice are smaller and have low bone density.

(A) Schematic of Sox2, Sox2^{geo (-)}, Sox2^flox and Sox2^del alleles. Map shows the location of diagnostic primer pairs in the Sox2 alleles. Beta geo is the beta geo gene in the Sox2 null allele Sox2^geo(-); green box is the neo gene; red triangles are the loxP sites. H3, HindIII; S1, SalI. The results obtained within the diagnostic PCR primer pairs depicted in this figure using DNA from Sox2^flox/- osteoblasts or Sox2^flox/- osteoblasts subjected to Cre excision are shown in Supplementary Figure 1A.

(B) PCR analysis of calvarial DNA. DNA from littermates was isolated using standard techniques and PCR was performed with the indicated primers. The flox primer pair detects the deleted and undeleted flox alleles. The del flox primer pair detects only the deleted Sox2 allele after Cre recombination. 1. Sox2^+/geo;Cre (control), 2. Sox2^flox/geo;Cre (cko)

(C) Four week old Sox2 cko (Sox2^flox/-; Cre) and control (Sox2^+/geo;Cre) littermate.

(D) Reconstructed image from Micro cT analysis of 4-week-old distal femurs from Sox2 cko and control littermate.

(E) Quantification of average bone mineral density, (F) bone volume per tissue volume (BV/TV), and (G) trabecular pattern factors obtained from micro-CT analysis of 4 and 8 week femurs of Sox2 cko and control littermate animals.