Rapid genotyping of newborn gene mutant mice

One important aspect of utilizing transgenic mice is the need to genotype t hem in order to distinguish mice that carry a disrupted gene or a transgene from mice that do not. Current methods for genotyping include isolation of genomic DNA from tail biopsies followed by PCR amplification. Particularly , both digestion of tail tissue using proteinase K as well as resuspension of purified DNA are time-consuming and were usually carried out overnight. Here, we describe a rapid and robust method for the genotyping of bdnf targ eted mice which allows us to determine the genotype of newborn mice at the day of birth within 6 h. After a freezing-thawing step tail tissue is diges ted in less than 2 h, and the DNA is precipitated, resuspended and ready fo r PCR in about 60 mill. The method could be easily adapted to a variety of different mutant mice and especially should benefit neuroscientists interes ted in using animals with known genotype very early in postnatal developmen t. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.