Question

Which type of transgenic mouse strategy can be used to study a selected mouse gene’s expression in a whole animal?

A. A reporter gene can be cloned so that it is under the control of the gene’s tissue specific regulatory regions.

B. A reporter gene can be expressed using a synthetic (not natural promoter) so that it can be expressed in all tissues of an organism.

C. A gene that is normally expressed in the organism can be cloned under the control of different regulatory element so that it is expressed in all tissues.

D. The transgene can be used to mutate a gene in the genome.

Answer 1

The answer is option A: A reporter gene can be cloned so that it is under the control of the gene’s tissue specific regulatory regions.

Reporter genes are nucleic acid sequences that encode for assayed proteins. They monitor the efficacy of gene delivery and gene expression. The introduced reporter gene driven by a promoter is also called as a transgene. The reporter gene is cloned downstream of regulatory region which is responsible for the controlled expression of a specific gene. Regulatory region is a promoter/ enhancer. These regions carry out the transcription of the cloned reporter gene. Thus, by introducing a reporter gene, we can indirectly monitor expression of the gene whose promoter has been cloned.