Members of the novel gene family Gasdermin (Gsdm) are exclusively expressed in a 
highly tissue-specific manner in the epithelium of skin and the gastrointestinal 
tract. Based on their expression patterns and the phenotype of the Gsdma3 
spontaneous mutations, it is inferred that the Gsdm family genes are involved in 
epithelial cell growth and/or differentiations in different tissues. To 
investigate possible roles of the Gsdm gene family in the development of 
intestinal tracts, we generated a Gsdmd mutant mouse, which is a solitary member 
of the Gsdmd subfamily and which is predominantly expressed in the intestinal 
tract by means of targeted disruption. In the mutant homozygotes, we found no 
abnormality of intestinal tract morphology. Moreover, in mutant mice, there was 
normal differentiation of all constituent cell types of the intestinal 
epithelium. Thus, this study clearly shows that Gsdmd is not essential for 
development of mouse intestinal tract or epithelial cell differentiation.