title: A new transgenic mouse line for tetracycline inducible transgene expression in mature melanocytes and the melanocyte stem cells using the Dopachrome tautomerase promoter.
abstract: We have generated a novel transgenic mouse to direct inducible and reversible transgene expression in the melanocytic compartment. The Dopachrome tautomerase (Dct) control sequences we used are active early in the development of melanocytes and so this system was designed to enable the manipulation of transgene expression during development in utero and in the melanocyte stem cells as well as mature melanocytes. We observed inducible lacZ and GFP reporter transgene activity specifically in melanocytes and melanocyte stem cells in mouse skin. This mouse model will be a useful tool for the pigment cell community to investigate the contribution of candidate genes to normal melanocyte and/or melanoma development in vivo. Deregulated expression of the proto-oncogene MYC has been observed in melanoma, however whether MYC is involved in tumorigenesis in pigment cells has yet to be directly investigated in vivo. We have used our system to over-express MYC in the melanocytic compartment and show for the first time that increased MYC expression can indeed promote melanocytic tumor formation.
authors.affiliation: G.W. Hooper Research Foundation, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143-0552, USA. susan.woods@qimr.edu.au
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bishop
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007763:Lac Operon; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D019746:Intramolecular Oxidoreductases; C042501:dopachrome isomerase; D013752:Tetracycline