TRANSGENIC ANIMAL-MODELS FOR DETECTION OF IN-VIVO MUTATIONS

Transgenic rodent models for measuring mutations provide a tool for as sessing tissue-specific mutations following in vivo treatment. These s ystems are based on the insertion into the rodent genome Escherichia c oli lad (lac repressor) or lacZ (beta-galactosidase) genes that serve as targets for mutations. Following in vivo treatment of animals, geno mic DNA is isolated from tissues of interest, and the target gene is s creened for mutations using either lambda-phage packaging or isolation of the target gene with magnetic affinity capture. In this paper we r eview the various experimental methods used in the conduct of transgen ic mutation assays and discuss critical factors that affect the interp retations of results of these assays.