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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 6, 2026

Dissecting Innate Immune Signaling in Viral Evasion of Cytokine Production

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Published on: March 2, 2014

Mice lacking vimentin develop and reproduce without an obvious phenotype

E Colucci-Guyon¹, M M Portier, I Dunia

¹Unité de Recherche Associée 361, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pasteur, France.

|November 18, 1994

Summary

Mice lacking the vimentin gene developed normally and reproduced without apparent issues. This suggests vimentin is not essential for basic mouse development and reproduction, though its role in specific conditions remains unclear.

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Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Genetics
Developmental Biology

Background:

Vimentin is a key intermediate filament protein in the cytoskeleton.
Its precise biological role in a whole organism has been largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the in vivo biological significance of vimentin.
To determine the effects of vimentin gene deletion on mouse development and reproduction.

Main Methods:

Generation of vimentin-null mutant mice through germline gene targeting.
Phenotypic analysis of homozygous mutant mice.
Confirmation of vimentin absence using immunoblotting, immunofluorescence, and immunogold labeling.

Main Results:

Vimentin-null mice developed and reproduced normally with no obvious phenotype.
Absence of vimentin and its filament network was confirmed.
No compensatory upregulation of other intermediate filament proteins was observed.

Conclusions:

Vimentin is not essential for mouse development and reproduction.
The absence of vimentin does not lead to compensatory changes in other intermediate filaments.
Vimentin's role may be restricted to specific conditions or pathological states.