A mouse gene (Dgcr6) related to the Drosophila gonadal gene is expressed in early embryogenesis and is the homolog of a human gene deleted in DiGeorge syndrome.

We report the identification of a mouse gene, Dgcr6, which shows high sequence similarity to gonadal (gdl), a Drosophila gene of unknown function. Dgcr6 is the mouse homolog of human DGCR6, previously shown to be deleted in DiGeorge syndrome, a developmental field defect affecting the derivatives of the pharyngeal arches which is associated with 22q11.2 deletions. The Dgcr6 transcript has a 594 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) encoding 198 amino acids. We previously mapped Dgcr6 to mouse chromosome 16B1-B3, a region known to contain other mouse homologs of genes deleted in DiGeorge syndrome. Expression studies were performed by Northern blotting analysis on mouse embryo and adult tissues and by RNA in situ hybridization on mouse embryo sections. Results show that Dgcr6 transcripts are abundant during mouse embryogenesis, from at least 7 days post coitum. In particular, high expression was detected in the brain, spinal cord and pharyngeal arches. On adult tissues high expression was detected in testis. The function of Dgcr6 is to be determined, but its developmental expression suggests that this gene may play a role in the developmental defects associated with 22q11.2 deletions.