Expression of P1 DNA in mammalian cells and transgenic mice

Because the P1 bacteriophage packages DNA inserts of 80-100 kb, which are much larger than inserts of bacteriophage lambda or cosmid vectors, P1 DNA can be used to express large genes in cultured cells and transgenic mice. We obtained a P1 bacteriophage clone with a 79.5-kb insert (p158) that spanned the entire human apolipoprotein (apo-) B gene. We used the insert from p158 to express the human apo-B gene in both cultured rat hepatoma cells and transgenic mice. In this article, we review our apo-B expression studies and discuss the techniques that we have used for these expression studies.