Transgenic mouse technology: principles and methods.

Introduction of foreign DNA into the mouse germ line is considered a major technical advancement in the fields of developmental biology and genetics. This technology now referred to as transgenic mouse technology has revolutionized virtually all fields of biology and provided new genetic approaches to model many human diseases in a whole animal context. Several hundreds of transgenic lines with expression of foreign genes specifically targeted to desired organelles/cells/tissues have been characterized. Further, the ability to spatio-temporally inactivate or activate gene expression in vivo using the "Cre-lox" technology has recently emerged as a powerful approach to understand various developmental processes including those relevant to molecular endocrinology. In this chapter, we will discuss the principles of transgenic mouse technology, and describe detailed methodology standardized at our institute.