| First Author | Lewandoski M | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Curr Biol | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 148-51 |
| PubMed ID | 9016703 | Mgi Jnum | J:50993 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1327866 | Doi | 10.1016/s0960-9822(06)00059-5 |
| Citation | Lewandoski M, et al. (1997) Zp3-cre, a transgenic mouse line for the activation or inactivation of loxP-flanked target genes specifically in the female germ line. Curr Biol 7(2):148-51 |
| abstractText | The site-specific DNA recombinase Cre is being used to develop a new generation of tools for controlling gene expression in mice [1]. Cre mediates the recombination of two directly repeated target (loxP) sites to a single loxP site, with concomitant excision of the DNA segment flanked by the loxP sites (the 'floxed' DNA). Such recombination can function to activate a gene by excising a floxed DNA segment that blocks expression because it either separates the regulatory and coding sequences of the gene [2] or interrupts the gene's open reading frame. Conversely, DNA excision can inactivate a gene if an essential fragment of the gene is floxed [3]. Gene activation or inactivation in vivo can be achieved by mating two different animals, one carrying a 'target gene' with appropriately placed loxP sites and one carrying a cre transgene. In most cases, the specificity of the system is dependent upon stringent regulation of cre expression. We describe here a mouse line in which cre expression is controlled by regulatory sequences from the mouse zona pellucida 3 (Zp3) gene, which is normally expressed exclusively in the growing oocyte prior to the completion of the first meiotic division [4]. We show that in target-bearing Zp3-cre mice, Cre-mediated recombination of the target gene apparently occurs in 100 % of oocytes. Moreover, Cre activity is not detected in the somatic tissues of most target-bearing Zp3-cre mice. Potential uses for this mouse line are discussed. |
