Animal transgenesis has proven to be useful for physiological as well
as physiopathological studies. Besides the classical approach based on
the random integration of a DNA construct in the mouse genome, gene t
argeting can be achieved using totipotent embryonic stem (ES) cells fo
r targeted transgenesis. Transgenic mice are then derived from the tra
nsgenic ES cells. This allows the introduction of null mutations in th
e genome (so-called knock-out) or the control of the transgene express
ion by the endogenous regulatory sequences of the gene of interest (so
-called knock-in). Development of these transgenic animals leads to a
better understanding of the cellular function of many genes or to the
generation of animal models for human diseases. The purpose of this sh
ort review is to describe animal models in renal tubular physiopatholo
gy. Recent progresses will allow the generation of animal models with
conditional expression of the transgene of interest or with a conditio
nal gene mutation. This permits spatial and temporal control of the ex
pression of the transgene or of the mutation. This should allow the ge
neration of models suitable for physiological analysis or closer to di
sease state.