This strain carries the "RIP-Cre" transgene construct (containing a 668 bp fragment of the rat insulin II promoter, Cre recombinase with a nuclear localization sequence, and a 2.1 kb fragment from the human growth hormone gene). Hemizygous mice carrying this transgene are phenotypically normal and overexpresss <i>cre</i> specifically in pancreatic beta cells. This transgene strain is used in combination with mice carrying floxed targeted mutations to create various pancreatic beta cell-specific gene knockouts using the "Cre-lox" system. Results from several different laboratories have shown that this transgenic strain is at least 85% efficient in achieving pancreatic beta cell-specific recombination. It should also be noted that the transgene in this line has been found to be expressed at a low level in the hypothalamus. In some cases this has resulted in a phenotype due to deletion of the floxed allele in this region of the brain. It has also been shown that these transgenic mice may spontaneously develop glucose intolerance and impaired insulin secretion developing at 6-8 weeks of age.  It is recommended that users include naive "RIP-Cre" mice (i.e., those not bred to a floxed mutant) among the controls used in experiments.



The RIP-Cre transgene has a 668 bp fragment of the rat insulin II promoter, nuclear-localized Cre recombinase, and a 2.1 kbp fragment from the human growth hormone gene. These RIP-Cre transgenic mice are a Cre-lox tool useful for deletion of floxed sequences in pancreatic beta cells.

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