Gene-trap mutagenesis: past, present and beyond

• Published in: Nature reviews. Genetics Vol. 2; no. 10; pp. 756 - 768
• Main Authors: Stanford, William L, Cohn, Jason B, Cordes, Sabine P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.10.2001
• Subjects: Animals; Chimera - genetics; DNA, Recombinant - administration & dosage; DNA, Recombinant - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Electroporation; Embryo, Mammalian - cytology; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Enhancer Elements, Genetic - genetics; Forecasting; Gene Library; Gene Targeting; Gene-trap mutagenesis; Genes - drug effects; Genes - radiation effects; Genes, Reporter; Genetic Vectors - administration & dosage; Genetic Vectors - genetics; Lac Operon; Mice; Mice, Mutant Strains - genetics; Mice, Transgenic; Microinjections; Mutagenesis, Insertional - methods; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; Mutagens - pharmacology; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Retroviridae - genetics; Stem Cells
• ISSN: 1471-0056; 1471-0064
• DOI: 10.1038/35093548

Although at least 35,000 human genes have been sequenced and mapped, adequate expression or functional information is available for only approximately 15% of them. Gene-trap mutagenesis is a technique that randomly generates loss-of-function mutations and reports the expression of many mouse genes. At present, several large-scale, gene-trap screens are being carried out with various new vectors, which aim to generate a public resource of mutagenized embryonic stem (ES) cells. This resource now includes more than 8,000 mutagenized ES-cell lines, which are freely available, making it an appropriate time to evaluate the recent advances in this area of genomic technology and the technical hurdles it has yet to overcome.