2.2 | SERCA2 C674S knock-in mouse construct
All mice used in this study were of C57BL/6J background (RRID: IMSR_JAX:000664 ) and were originally obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine, USA). The construct of the SKI mouse (RRID: MGI:5780876 ) was generated as previously described (Thompson et al., 2014). Briefly, the genetic variation is TGT at C674 to TCC (Ser674 [S674]) in exon 14 of SERCA2. The presence of the C674S mutation was verified by sequencing of both genomic DNA and cDNA from heart. Homozygous SKI mice died before birth, so only heterozygous SKI mice that express 50% of C674 and 50% of S674 were used in this study, and their littermate wild-type (WT) mice without S674 were used as controls. For aneurysm studies, SKI mice were mated with LDL receptor-deficient (LDLR−/−, The Jackson Laboratory, RRID: IMSR_JAX:002207) mice susceptible to aortic aneurysms to obtain SKI/LDLR+/− mice, which were further mated with LDLR−/− mice to obtain SKI/LDLR−/− mice. All mice used for aneurysm studies were derived from mating between SKI/LDLR−/− mice and LDLR−/− mice, and the littermate LDLR−/− mice acted as controls.