Boris V. Skryabin ¹, Valentina Sukonina ¹, Ursula Jordan ¹, Lars Lewejohann ², Norbert Sachser ², Ilham Muslimov ³, Henri Tiedge ³, and Jürgen Brosius ^1,*

¹ Institute of Experimental Pathology, and ² Department of Behavioral Biology, University of Münster, D-48149 Münster, Germany,
³ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York 11203

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Experimental Pathology (ZMBE), University of Münster,
Von-Esmarch Str. 56, D-48149 Münster, Germany. Phone: +49-251-835 8511. Fax: +49-251-835 8512.
E-mail:   RNA.world@uni-muenster.de

Despite the potentially important roles of untranslated RNAs in cellular form or function, genes encoding such RNAs have until now received surprisingly little attention. One such gene encodes BC1 RNA, a small non-mRNA that is delivered to dendritic microdomains in neurons. We have now eliminated the BC1 RNA gene in mice. Three independent founder lines were established from separate embryonic stem cells. The mutant mice appeared to be healthy and showed no anatomical or neurological abnormalities. The gross brain morphology was unaltered in such mice, as were the subcellular distributions of two prototypical dendritic mRNAs (encoding MAP2 and CaMKII). Due to the relatively recent evolutionary origin of the gene, we expected molecular and behavioral consequences to be subtle. Behavioral analyses, to be reported separately, indicate that the lack of BC1 RNA appears to reduce exploratory activity. 

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