These RAG-2del mutant mice harbor a pan deletion of exon 3 of the targeted locus. Homozygotes (RAG-2del/del) are viable and fertile, with pan deletion of the entire RAG-2 protein coding region. Homozygous mice may be expected to have the same knockout phenotype as other RAG-2 null mutants or similarly created RAG-2 exon 3 pan-deleted mutants; with hematopoietic and immune system defects including arrested B cell and T cell development at the pro-B and the pro-T cell stages, respectively. These RAG-2del mice may be useful in studying the role of RAG-2 in B cell 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.
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.
