Green fluorescent protein as a reporter of gene expression in transgenic mice

We used the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria as a reporter of gene expression in transgenic mice. The GFP coding sequence was placed under the control of the human hemopexin and the mouse beta1 integrin promoter that were previously studied in transgenic mice using the lacZ reporter gene. We showed that GFP has a higher degree of sensitivity compared to the lacZ reporter gene allowing to identify cells with low and otherwise undetectable beta-galactosidase activity. Thus we showed the potentiality of GFP in replacing lacZ as a reporter gene to investigate promoter mapping and gene regulation in transgenic mice.