| First Author | Cohen JL | Year | 1998 |
| Journal | Transgenic Res | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 321-30 |
| PubMed ID | 9859221 | Mgi Jnum | J:123437 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3718301 | Doi | 10.1023/a:1008893206208 |
| Citation | Cohen JL, et al. (1998) Fertile homozygous transgenic mice expressing a functional truncated herpes simplex thymidine kinase delta TK gene. Transgenic Res 7(5):321-30 |
| abstractText | Dividing cells expressing the Herpes simplex type 1 thymidine kinase (TK) can be killed upon ganciclovir treatment. Likewise, conditional cell knock-out can be obtained in transgenic mice expressing a TK gene placed under the control of tissue-specific regulatory sequences. Such animals provide powerful experimental systems for assessing the functional role of specific cell populations through their time-controlled ablation. However, whatever the regulatory sequences used, a leaky toxic overexpression of TK in testis renders male TK-transgenic mice sterile and prevents the generation of homozygous TK-expressing animals. To solve this problem, we designed a truncated TK variant (delta TK) not expressed in the testis. We generated transgenic mice expressing delta TK under the control of lymphocyte-specific regulatory sequences derived from the CD4 gene. The delta TK protein expressed in T-lymphocytes allowed the conditional ablation of activated T-cells in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, for one transgenic line we could generate fertile homozygous mice harboring a functional delta TK transgene. delta TK should thus dramatically facilitate the development of transgenic mice expressing a conditional suicide gene. |
