Efficient generation of mice with consistent transgene expression by FEEST

Abstract

Transgenic mouse models are widely used in biomedical research; however, current techniques for producing transgenic mice are limited due to the unpredictable nature of transgene expression. Here, we report a novel, highly efficient technique for the generation of transgenic mice with single-copy integration of the transgene and guaranteed expression of the gene-of-interest (GOI). We refer to this technique as functionally enriched ES cell transgenics, or FEEST. ES cells harboring an inducible Cre gene enabled the efficient selection of transgenic ES cell clones using hygromycin before Cre-mediated recombination. Expression of the GOI was confirmed by assaying for the GFP after Cre recombination. As a proof-of-principle, we produced a transgenic mouse line containing Cre-activatable tTA (cl-tTA6). This tTA mouse model was able to induce tumor formation when crossed with a transgenic mouse line containing a doxycycline-inducible oncogene. We also showed that the cl-tTA6 mouse is a valuable tool for faithfully recapitulating the clinical course of tumor development. We showed that FEEST can be easily adapted for other genes by preparing a transgenic mouse model of conditionally activatable EGFR L858R. Thus, FEEST is a technique with the potential to generate transgenic mouse models at a genome-wide scale.