title: Efficient gene activation in mammalian cells by using recombinant adenovirus expressing site-specific Cre recombinase.
abstract: A recombinant adenovirus (Ad) expressing Cre recombinase derived from bacteriophage P1 was constructed. To assay the Cre activity in mammalian cells, another recombinant Ad bearing an on/off-switching reporter unit, where a LacZ-expression unit can be activated by the Cre-mediated excisional deletion of an interposed stuffer DNA, was also constructed. Co-infection experiments together with the Cre-expressing and the reporter recombinant Ads showed that the Cre-mediated switching of gene expression was detected in nearly 100% of cultured CV1, HeLa and Jurkat cells. These results suggest that the recombinant Ad efficiently expressed functional Cre and offers a basis for establishing a powerful on/off switching strategy of gene expression in cultured mammalian cells and presumably in transgenic animals. The method is also applicable to construction of recombinant Ad bearing a gene the expression of which is deleterious to propagation of recombinant Ad.
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002460:Cell Line; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D000882:Haplorhini; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D019426:Integrases; D007668:Kidney; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D014764:Viral Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C045073:Cre recombinase; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; D019426:Integrases; D001616:beta-Galactosidase