Mice hemizygous for the CCSP-rtTA transgene are viable, fertile, normal in size, and do not display any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities. These transgenic mice express the reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator (rtTA) protein under the control of the rat Scgb1a1, secretoglobin, family 1A, member 1 (uteroglobin), gene promoter. rtTA activity detected in bronchial and type II epithelial cells of lung tissue from adult transgenic mice and in embryos from pregnant females treated with the tetracycline analog doxycycline (dox). In the latter, rtTA-induced expression of a luciferase reporter under the regulation of a tetracycline-responsive promoter (TRE; tetO) has been detected as early as embryonic day 12.5. When hemizygotes are mated to a second transgenic strain carrying a gene of interest under the regulatory control of a TRE, expression of the target gene in the bitransgenic offspring can be regulated by dox; in the presence of dox, transcription of the target gene is induced in cells where rtTA is expressed. These CCSP-rtTA transgenic mice provide a "Tet-On" tool that allows the inducible expression of genes in the developing and adult lung and respiratory epithelium.
Of note, these CCSP-rtTA mice are available on different genetic backgrounds including FVB/N (Stock No. 006222), C57BL/6J (Stock No. 006232), and BALB/cJ (Stock No. 006242).
In an attempt to offer alleles on well-characterized or multiple genetic backgrounds, alleles frequently are moved to a genetic background different from that on which an allele was first characterized. This is the case for this strain. 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.
