title: Efficient generation of germ line transmitting chimeras from C57BL/6N ES cells by aggregation with outbred host embryos.
abstract: Genetically modified mouse strains derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells have become essential tools for functional genomics and biomedical research. Large scale mutagenesis projects are producing libraries of mutant C57BL/6 (B6) ES cells to enable the functional annotation of every gene of the mouse genome. To realize the utility of these resources, efficient and accessible methods of generating mutant mice from these ES cells are necessary. Here, we describe a combination of ICR morula aggregation and a chemically-defined culture medium with widely available and accessible components for the high efficiency generation of germline transmitting chimeras from C57BL/6N ES cells. Together these methods will ease the access of the broader biomedical research community to the publicly available B6 ES cell resources.
authors.affiliation: Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gertsenstein
authors.forename: Lauryl M J
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nutter
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Stanford
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rossant
authors.forename: Andras
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002678:Chimera; D003470:Culture Media; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005854:Germ Cells; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media