Tissue-specific Modifier Alleles Determine Loss-of-function Traits

Knockout (KO) mouse models play critical roles in elucidating biological processes behind disease-associated or disease-resistant traits. As a presumed consequence of gene KO, mice display certain phenotypes. Based on insight into the molecular role of said gene in a biological process, it is inferred that the particular biological process causally underlies the trait. This approach has been crucial towards understanding the basis of pathological and/or advantageous traits associated with KO mice. KO mice suffer from severe, early-onset retinal degeneration. MERTK, expressed in retinal pigment epithelia, is a receptor tyrosine kinase with a critical role in phagocytosis of apoptotic cells or cellular debris. Therefore, early-onset, severe retinal degeneration was described to be a direct consequence of failed MERTK-mediated phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments by retinal pigment epithelia. Here, we report that the loss of alone is not sufficient for retinal degeneration. The widely used KO mouse carries multiple coincidental changes in its genome that affect the expression of a number of genes, including the paralog . Retinal degeneration manifests only when the function of is concomitantly lost. Furthermore, KO mice display improved anti-tumor immunity. MERTK is expressed in macrophages. Therefore, enhanced anti-tumor immunity was inferred to result from the failure of macrophages to dispose of cancer cell corpses, resulting in a pro-inflammatory tumor microenvironment. The resistance against two syngeneic mouse tumor models observed in KO mice is not, however, phenocopied by the loss of alone. Neither nor macrophage phagocytosis by alternate genetic redundancy accounts for the absence of anti-tumor immunity. Collectively, our results indicate that context-dependent epistasis of independent modifier alleles determines KO traits.