The donating investigator reports that mice homozygous for this CD4-GFP transgene are viable, fertile, normal in size and do not exhibit any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities. FACS analysis of splenic lymphocytes shows transgenic expression uniformly in 81% of inactivated or resting CD8+, 81% on inactivated or resting CD4+, and minimal expression in B cells (2.3%) and macrophages (1.5%). Antigen activated CD4+ T cells continue to express GFP, while activated CD8+ T cells lost GFP expression. These CD4-GFP transgenic mice may be useful for fluorescent monitoring of T cells both in vivo and in vitro.
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 on a NOD/ShiLt genetic background. We will modify the strain description if necessary as published results become available.
