To solve the problem of embryonic lethality in conventional gene knockouts, site-specific recombinase (SSR) systems (Cre-loxP, FIp-FRT, and φC31) have been used for tissue-specific gene knockout. With the combina...To solve the problem of embryonic lethality in conventional gene knockouts, site-specific recombinase (SSR) systems (Cre-loxP, FIp-FRT, and φC31) have been used for tissue-specific gene knockout. With the combination of an SSR system and inducible gene expression systems (tetracycline and tamoxifen), stage-specific knockout and transgenic expression can be achieved. The application of this "SSR+inducible" conditional tool to genomic manipulation can be extended in various ways. Alternatives to conditional gene targeting, such as conditional gene trapping, multipurpose conditional alleles, and conditional gene silencing, have been developed. SSR systems can also be used to construct precise disease models with point mutations and chromosomal abnormalities. With these exciting achievements, we are moving towards a new era in which the whole genome can be manipulated as we wish.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.30871436,30973297,and 31171194)the National Basic Research Program(973)of China(No.2010CB945002)+1 种基金the Ministry of Education of China(No.200804220011)Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Key Program(No.2009GG10003039),China
文摘To solve the problem of embryonic lethality in conventional gene knockouts, site-specific recombinase (SSR) systems (Cre-loxP, FIp-FRT, and φC31) have been used for tissue-specific gene knockout. With the combination of an SSR system and inducible gene expression systems (tetracycline and tamoxifen), stage-specific knockout and transgenic expression can be achieved. The application of this "SSR+inducible" conditional tool to genomic manipulation can be extended in various ways. Alternatives to conditional gene targeting, such as conditional gene trapping, multipurpose conditional alleles, and conditional gene silencing, have been developed. SSR systems can also be used to construct precise disease models with point mutations and chromosomal abnormalities. With these exciting achievements, we are moving towards a new era in which the whole genome can be manipulated as we wish.