Gene Transfer Into Mice

Publisher Summary Transgenic mice provide a powerful assay system to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression to analyze the role of specific molecules in complex biological phenomena and alter the physiology of whole animals in defined ways. This chapter reviews the broad areas in which transgenic mice have made or are likely to make a significant contribution—tissue- and developmental stage-specific gene expression, oncology, immunology, development, and understanding of genetic diseases. Gene-transfer techniques have been utilized to clone genes and are very important in structure-function analyses. Mice that contain exogenous DNA integrated into their genomes have been termed “transgenic,” and the introduced DNA is called a “transgene.” Genes can be introduced into single-cell fertilized eggs by direct microcapillary injection of DNA into one of the two pronuclei or by retroviral infection. Genes can be introduced into later-stage embryos by retroviral infection or by introducing into the embryos totipotent cells, which previously had been transfected with DNA in culture.