C.Cg-Tg(Mx1-cre)1Cgn/J

Stock number: 005673
Product name: Mx-Cre
Strain synonyms: Mx1-Cre(BALB/c)
Research areas: Research Tools

Description

These Mx-Cre mice express a transgene containing cre recombinase directed by the Mx1 promoter.

Detailed description

The Cre recombinase is under the control of the Mx1 promoter. This promoter is silent in healthy mice, but can be induced to high levels of transcription by administration of interferon alpha, interferon beta, or synthetic double-stranded RNA (such as poly I:C). When combined with a mutant carrying a gene that has been flanked by loxP recognition sites, the expression of Cre recombinase causes the flanked gene to be removed. This provides researchers with the capability to induce the "knockout" at any time during development. There is ~1% background recombination seen in mice not treated with interferon. The percent deletion of the targeted gene varies depending on tissue type, presumably due to the amount of interferon-responsive cells present or to the availability of interferon in each organ.

In an attempt to offer alleles on well-characterized or multiple genetic backgrounds, alleles are frequently moved to a genetic background different from that on which an allele was first characterized. It should be noted that the phenotype could vary from that originally described. We will modify the strain description if necessary as published results become available.

Development

A transgenic construct containing the mouse Mx1 gene promoter, nuclear localization sequence-modified Cre recombinase and a 2.1 kb fragment from the human growth hormone gene (to provide the splicing and polyadenylation signals) was injected into (C57BL/6J X CBA/J)F2 fertilized eggs. The resulting transgenic mice were crossed to (C57BL/6J x 129Sv)F2 mice for an unknown number of generations. The mice were then backcrossed onto the BALB/cJ background for 10 generations.

Allele

Symbol: Tg(Mx1-cre)1Cgn
Name: transgene insertion 1, University of Cologne
MGI accession ID: MGI:2176073
Generation method: Transgenic
Attributes: Recombinase-expressing; Inducible
Marker symbol: Tg(Mx1-cre)1Cgn
Marker name: transgene insertion 1, University of Cologne
Chromosome: 10
Strain of origin: (C57BL/6J x CBA/J)F2
Expressed genes: cre,cre recombinase,bacteriophage P1
Site of expression: widespread pattern of expression; promoter induced to high levels of transcription by administration of interferon alpha, interferon beta, or synthetic double-stranded RNA; provides capability to induce the "knockout" at any time during development
Molecular note: This transgene expresses Cre recombinase under the control of an inducible Mx1 promoter, which is silent in healthy mice, and active in the liver and in lymphocytes after induction with IFN or pI-pC. The construct also contains a 2.1 kb fragment from the human growth hormone gene.