Mutation in the human neurofibromin gene, NF1, is the cause of the autosomal dominant disorder Type I Neurofibromatosis. These mice possess loxP sites on either side of exons 31 and 32 of the targeted gene. Mice that are homozygous for this allele are viable, fertile, normal in size and do not display any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities. When these mutant mice are bred to mice that express Cre recombinase, resulting offspring will have exons 31 and 32 deleted in the cre-expressing tissue(s).
When bred to a strain with Cre recombinase expression in the developing neural tube (see Stock No. 009107 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of Type I Neurofibromatosis.
When bred to a strain with Cre recombinase expression in neuronal cells (see Stock No. 003966 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of cerebral cortex development and reactive astrogliosis.
When bred to a strain with Cre recombinase expression in endothelial cells (see Stock No. 008863 for example), this mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of neural crest development.
When bred to B6.Cg-Tg(Prrx1-cre)1Cjt/J mice (Stock No. 005584), mesenchyme-specific cre-expression results in mice that exhibit an increase in the amount of connective tissue, as well as muscle dystrophy characterized by fibrosis, a reduced number of muscle fibers, and reduced muscle force.
When bred to mice carrying Tg(Mx1-cre)1Cgn (Stock No. 003556), interferon-induced Cre-mediated recombination results in a progressive myeloproliferative disorder.
This allele is also part of the MADM-TG,p53KO,NF1-flox strain (Stock No. 017530), which is a genetic mosaicism model for cancer.
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. This is the case for the strain above. 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.
