Mice carrying a complete deletion of the talin2 coding sequence are viable and fertile

Mice homozygous for several Tln2 gene targeted alleles are viable and fertile. Here we show that although the expression of talin2 protein is drastically reduced in muscle from these mice, other tissues continue to express talin2 albeit at reduced levels. We therefore generated a Tln2 allele lacking the entire coding sequence (Tln2(cd)). Tln2(cd/cd) mice were viable and fertile, and the genotypes of Tln2(cd/+) intercrosses were at the expected Mendelian ratio. Tln2(cd/cd) mice showed no major difference in body mass or the weight of the major organs compared to wild-type, although they displayed a mildly dystrophic phenotype. Moreover, Tln2(cd/cd) mouse embryo fibroblasts showed no obvious defects in cell adhesion, migration or proliferation. However, the number of Tln2(cd/cd) pups surviving to adulthood was variable suggesting that such mice have an underlying defect.