Generation and identification of genetically modified mice for BMP receptors

Abstract

BMP signaling is critical in embryogenesis and in the development of numerous tissues. Many genetically modified (knockout and transgenic) mice have been established to study BMP function in development and disease. Mice with altered BMP receptor genes (including global knockout, conditional knockout, and conditional constitutively active transgenic mouse lines) have been particularly informative. In this chapter, we describe how the genetically modified mice were generated and introduce genotyping methods. These methods include regular PCR and genomic real-time PCR using specific primers based on different constructs in different mice strains.