Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 8 pp 7217—7248

Figure 1. Homozygous ablation of METTL3 in murine hepatocytes by Alb-iCre mice (GPT) leads to postnatal lethality. (A) Hepatocyte-specific METTL3 homozygous knockout assessed by PCR-based genotyping on genomic DNA collected from the indicated organs of control mice and METTL3^fl/fl; Alb-iCre mice (GPT) (Referred to as METTL3^Δhep mice (GPT)). (B) qRT-PCR assay of METTL3 mRNA expression in the livers of control mice and METTL3^Δhep mice (GPT). (C, D) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of METTL3 in the livers of 7- or 14-day-old control mice and METTL3^Δhep mice (GPT). The percentages of METTL3-positive hepatocytes were calculated by determining the total number of METTL3-positive hepatocytes divided by the total number of hepatocytes. (E) A schematic representation of the offspring with indicated genotypes from intercrossing METTL3^fl/fl mice and METTL3^fl/wt; Alb-iCre (GPT) mice. (F) PCR-based genotyping during the late postnatal period displays the absence of offspring with the genotype (i.e., METTL3^Δhep (GPT)) from intercrossing METTL3^fl/fl mice and METTL3^fl/wt; Alb-iCre (GPT) mice. (G) PCR-based genotyping during the early postnatal period exhibits the number of offspring with indicated genotypes from intercrossing METTL3^fl/fl mice and METTL3^fl/wt; Alb-iCre (GPT) mice. (H) Survival curves of WT, Alb-iCre (GPT), METTL3^fl/wt, METTL3^fl/wt; Alb-iCre (GPT), METTL3^fl/fl and METTL3^Δhep (GPT) mice (n = 8–11 for each group).