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Examples of research in which knockout mice have been useful include studying and modeling different kinds of cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, substance abuse, anxiety, aging and Parkinson's disease. Knockout mice also offer a biological and scientific context in which drugs and other therapies can be developed and tested.
The genetically modified mouse in which a gene affecting hair growth has been knocked out (left) shown next to a normal lab mouse. A genetically modified mouse, genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) [1] or transgenic mouse is a mouse (Mus musculus) that has had its genome altered through the use of genetic engineering techniques.
The International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) is a scientific endeavour to produce a collection of mouse embryonic stem cell lines that together lack every gene in the genome, and then to distribute the cells to scientific researchers to create knockout mice to study.
The gene targeting method in knockout mice uses mouse embryonic stem cells to deliver artificial genetic material (mostly of therapeutic interest), which represses the target gene of the mouse by the principle of homologous recombination. The mouse thereby acts as a working model to understand the effects of a specific mammalian gene.
An example of this method in action can be seen through the production of a knockout mouse. This is accomplished through the administration of one or more transgenes into a fertilized mouse oocyte’s pronucleus. Afterwards, it is reimplanted into a host mother, who then births a transgenic mouse.
A complete gene knockout permanently inactivates the gene, while a conditional gene knockout allows for the gene to be turned off and on at specific times or in specific tissues. Conditional knockouts are particularly useful for studying developmental processes and for understanding the role of a gene in specific cell types or tissues.
Conditional gene knockout is a technique used to eliminate a specific gene in a certain tissue, such as the liver. [1] [2] This technique is useful to study the role of individual genes in living organisms. It differs from traditional gene knockout because it targets specific genes at specific times rather than being deleted from beginning of life.
Gene knock-in originated as a slight modification of the original knockout technique developed by Martin Evans, Oliver Smithies, and Mario Capecchi.Traditionally, knock-in techniques have relied on homologous recombination to drive targeted gene replacement, although other methods using a transposon-mediated system to insert the target gene have been developed. [3]