Fig. 1.

Targeted deletion of parkin exon 7 in the mouse genome results in the absence of parkin protein. (A) Schematic representation of the targeting strategy. (B) Southern blot of genomic DNA from WT mice (+/+) and mice heterozygous (+/-) or homozygous (-/-) for the exon 7-deleted allele. HaeIII-digested DNA was hybridized with the probe represented in A. (C) RT-PCR with nested primers flanking exon 7. cDNA from one WT and one parkin null mouse was used as a template for PCR amplification by using primer pair A or B. (D) Northern blot of poly(A) RNA. A probe spanning exons 1–5 was used for hybridization. (E) Western blot of whole-brain lysates with a parkin-specific antibody (PRK8), demonstrating reduced expression of parkin protein in heterozygous mice and its absence in parkin null mice.