The donating investigator reports that homozygous mice are viable and fertile. These TetRE-EGFR-tr (TRE-EGFR-tr) transgenic mice express a dominant negative, cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase domain-deleted mutant form of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR-tr) regulated by the tetracycline operator (tetO; also called tetracycline-responsive element (TRE, TetRE) or tet-operator) and cytomegalovirus minimal promoter. When mated to a mutant strain expressing reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator protein (rtTA) or tetracycline-controlled transactivator protein (tTA), tissue EGFR-tr expression may be regulated with the tetracycline analog doxycycline (dox) in the double mutant offspring. EGFR-tr expression disrupts subsequent activation of signal transduction pathways that are involved in regulating cellular proliferation, differentiation, and survival. These TetRE-EGFR-tr mice may be bred to generate bi-transgenic mutant mice with conditional (inducible/reversible) expression of a dominant negative EGF receptor, and may be useful in studying receptor tyrosine kinase function of the EGF receptor (ErbB) family proteins and their extracellular protein ligands (including EGF, TGF-α and neuregulins).
For example, when bred to a strain expressing rtTA in pituitary somatotropes (see Stock No. 010574), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of pituitary development.
When bred to a strain expressing tTA in pituitary lactotropes/mammotropes (see Stock No. 010573 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of pituitary development.
