Generation of mice with tissue specific transgene expression using sperm mediated gene transfer

Abstract

The production of transgenic animals has extended our knowledge of physiology and allowed the generation of animal models for human diseases. Previous work in the laboratory had reported the use of lentiviral vectors to generate transgenic animals using sperm mediated gene transfer (SMGT). To determine if lentivirus mediated SMGT could be used to generate tissue specific transgenic animals, a lentiviral vector containing the K14 promoter driving the expression of turbo RFP was used to generate transgenic animals. The pups were screened for presence of the transgene and for transgene expression for two generations. Transgenic animals were generated at a very high frequency and the transgene was stably inherited in the germline. In addition, the transgene was expressed in the hair follicle as previously reported for K14 driven transgenes suggesting that our SMGT protocol can be used to generate tissue specific transgenic animals.