title: Genomewide production of multipurpose alleles for the functional analysis of the mouse genome.
abstract: A type of retroviral gene trap vectors has been developed that can induce conditional mutations in most genes expressed in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. The vectors rely on directional site-specific recombination systems that can repair and re-induce gene trap mutations when activated in succession. After the gene traps are inserted into the mouse genome, genetic mutations can be produced at a particular time and place in somatic cells. In addition to their conditional features, the vectors create multipurpose alleles amenable to a wide range of post-insertional modifications. Here we have used these directional recombination vectors to assemble the largest library of ES cell lines with conditional mutations in single genes yet assembled, presently totaling 1,000 unique genes. The trapped ES cell lines, which can be ordered from the German Gene Trap Consortium, are freely available to the scientific community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Hematology, University of Frankfurt Medical School, 60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schnütgen
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De-Zolt
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van Sloun
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hollatz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Floss
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Altschmied
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Seisenberger
authors.forename: Norbert B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Ghyselinck
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chambon
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wurst
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: von Melchner
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002460:Cell Line; D019295:Computational Biology; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012190:Retroviridae; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*