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Chicken beta-globin 5'HS4 insulators function to reduce variability in transgenic founder mice
1AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Alderley Park, Mereside, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4TG, United Kingdom.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
|July 13, 2000
Summary
This study introduces a method using insulators to improve the production of transgenic mice and rats. This approach reduces animal use by ensuring consistent phenotypic expression and desired traits in founder animals.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Genetics
- Animal Models
Background:
- Transgenic mice and rats are essential tools in biomedical research and pharmaceutical drug development.
- Current methods for generating transgenic animals can be inefficient, requiring significant animal numbers and leading to variability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a novel method for improving the efficiency of transgenic animal production.
- To reduce the number of animals required for generating transgenic lines with desired phenotypic characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Flanking a tyrosinase minigene with tandem copies of the chicken beta-globin 5'HS4 insulator.
- Microinjection into mouse zygotes to generate transgenic founder mice.
Main Results:
- The use of insulators significantly reduced variability between transgenic lines.
- Mice exhibited similar and consistent levels of coat pigmentation.
- Insulators ensured visually identical tissue distribution of pigmentation across various tissues.
Conclusions:
- The described method enhances the yield of phenotypically desirable transgenic founder mice.
- The implementation of insulators reduces the overall animal requirements for transgenic production.
- This technique streamlines the identification of transgenic animals with appropriate expression levels and tissue distribution.