title: Construction of transgenic swine with induced expression of  Cre recombinase.
abstract: Miniature pigs have been recognized as valuable experimental animals in medical research. However, porcine models related to gene knockout of human diseases are not widely available. The objective of this study was to establish Mx1-Cre pigs using somatic cell nuclear transfer. In this study, we created transgenic pigs using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Transfer of 210, 230, 250 and 215 zygotes to four surrogates produced 10 piglets. The Cre recombinase expression in transgenic pigs was studied using reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Mx1-Cre swine were shown to harbor the Cre gene in their genomic DNA using the PCR. In conclusion, Mx1-Cre transgenic piglets were successfully produced by SCNT. These transgenic swine, in conjunction with inducible systems for controlling Cre expression and function, are likely to have a profound impact on the study of human diseases.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Animal Biotechnology, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, 5333 Xi'an Road, Changchun 130062, PR China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: L X
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ouyang