A neomycin selection cassette replaced a genomic fragment containing exons 3 and 4. Various tissues of homozygous mice failed to express detectable transcripts, as detected by semiquantitative real-time PCR. Total sphingosine-1-phosphate phosphatase (SPPase) enzymatic activity was decreased by ~30% in the membrane fraction from homozygous mutant lung tissue. (J:235035)