Fig 1. Genotyping and gene induction in 8 week old AHR^Vav1 mice.

(A) Excised Ahr is detectable in hematopoietic tissues of AHR^Vav1 animals. Tissues from AHR^Vav1 and AHR^FX mice were isolated as described and DNA was extracted for PCR analysis using a three primer reaction that amplifies either 180 bp fragments (excised allele) or 140 bp (unexcised allele) fragments. (B) AHR^Vav1 animals have reduced levels of AHR protein in hematopoietic cells. Various tissues (liver, spleen, thymus, and total bone marrow) were analyzed by western blot to detect AHR (~90kD). AHR^FX mice (+) express the receptor in all tissues. AHR^Vav1 (-) mice display reductions or lack of AHR in the tissues examined. Hepatoma cells were used as a positive control as they express large amounts of AHR.(C) Lineage negative cells from AHR^Vav1 mice fail to upregulate Scinderin mRNA after 6h exposure to 10nM TCDD. Data expressed relative to DMSO vehicle, using HPRT as an endogenous control gene for normalization. N = 4 mice per treatment group. Relative fold change in expression was calculated using the 2^ΔΔCt method.