CByJ.B6(Cg)-Rag2^tm1Cgn/J

Stock number: 008338
Research areas: Developmental Biology Research, Hematological Research, Immunology, Inflammation and Autoimmunity Research, Internal/Organ Research, Research Tools, Virology Research

Description

These RAG-2^fl mice harbor loxP sites flanking the entire coding region of the Rag2 (recombination activating gene 2) locus. When bred to mice that express Cre recombinase, the resulting offspring will have exon 3 deleted in the cre-expressing tissue(s). These RAG-2^fl may be useful in generating conditional mutations for studying the role of RAG-2 in B and T cell development (including cancer and toxicology research as a xenograft/transplant host), T and B cell receptor (V(D)J) recombination, hematopoiesis, hematology, immunology, and inflammation research.

Detailed description

Mice homozygous for the RAG-2^fl allele are viable and fertile, with loxP sites flanking exon 3 of the targeted gene. When bred to mice that express Cre recombinase, the resulting offspring will have this region (coding for the entire RAG-2 protein) deleted in the cre-expressing tissue(s). These RAG-2^fl mice may be useful in generating conditional mutations for studying the role of RAG-2 in B and T cell development (including cancer and toxicology research as a xenograft/transplant host), T and B cell receptor (V(D)J) recombination, hematopoiesis, hematology, immunology, and inflammation research.

For example, when bred to a strain with inducible Cre recombinase expression in liver and lymphocytes (see Stock No. 003556), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of B and T cell development.

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 targeting vector was designed to insert a loxP-flanked neomycin resistance gene on one side, and a third loxP site on the other side of exon 3 of the targeted gene. This construct was electroporated into C57BL/6-derived Bruce-4 embryonic stem (ES) cells. Correctly targeted ES cells were transiently transfected with a cre-expressing vector to remove the selection cassette. ES cells in which the neomycin resistance cassette was deleted (leaving a single loxP site upstream, and a single loxP downstream of exon 3) were injected into recipient blastocysts. Chimeric males were bred with C57BL/6 females to generate RAG-2^fl mice. These RAG-2^fl mice were bred with transgenic mice on mixed genetic background, and then bred with mutant mice on a C57BL/6 genetic background for 8 generations. The donating investigator reports that both the transgene and other mutant gene were bred out of these RAG-2^fl mice prior to arrival at The Jackson Laboratory (as Stock No. 008309). Upon arrival, some mice were backcrossed to BALB/cByJ (Stock No. 001026) using a marker-assisted approach to generate this congenic strain (Stock No. 008338).

Allele

Symbol: Rag2^tm1Cgn
Name: targeted mutation 1, University of Cologne
MGI accession ID: MGI:2654906
Generation method: Targeted
Attributes: Conditional ready (e.g. floxed); No functional change
Synonyms: RAG-2^fl
Marker symbol: Rag2
Marker name: recombination activating gene 2
Marker synonyms: Rag-2
Chromosome: 2
Strain of origin: B6.Cg-Thy1^a
Molecular note: LoxP sites were inserted to flank the coding region of the gene. The inserted sites had no effect on the normal function of the gene.