Transgenic mice

Stable integration into the mouse genome of exogenous genetic information has become, over the past few years, a very potent approach for different aspects of biology. It is a common feature that the integrated exogenous gene (the transgene) is expressed properly both spatially and temporally. Constructing different lines of transgenic mice carrying various versions of a gene, therefore, permits cis acting DNA sequences involved in the specificity of expression to be defined, in the context of the developing animal. This in turn opens the way to a variety of experiments in which a given gene product is targeted to one or another cell type, thus offering some insight into the physiological role of this product. Such a strategy has been used, for example, to address the questions of the role of oncogenes in malignant transformation. The insertion of foreign DNA per se may disrupt the function of endogenous genes, thus creating an insertional mutation. The corresponding affected genes may subsequently be cloned, using the transgene as a tag. Finally, the ability to perform homologous recombination, recently demonstrated with embryonic stem cells that can colonize the germ line of a foreign embryo, should constitute in the near future a unique way to analyse in detail the functioning of the mammalian genome.