Production of a reporter transgenic pig for monitoring Cre recombinase activity

The pig is thought to be the most suitable non-human source of organs for xenotransplantation and is widely used as a model of human disease. Using pigs as disease models requires the design of conditional Cre recombinase-loxP gene modifications, which, in turn, requires a Cre-expressing pig with defined patterns of expression controlled by the use of a tissue-specific promoter. In order to monitor Cre recombinant expression in vivo, it is important to create a reporter strain. We have generated reporter a pig that is based on a single vector that drives the ubiquitous expression of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). The EGFP gene is expressed only after Cre-mediated excision of loxP-flanked stop sequences. These reporter transgenic pigs will be of great value for monitoring Cre recombinase activity in vivo. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.