Appropriate tissue- and cell-specific expression of a single copy human angiotensinogen transgene specifically targeted upstream of the HPRT locus by homologous recombination

Development of experimental models by genetic manipulation in mice has proven to be very useful in determining the significance of particular genes in the development of or susceptibility to hypertension. Advances in molecular genetics, transgenic mouse technology, and physiological measurements in mice provided an opportunity to go a step further and develop models to analyze the physiological significance of specific gene variants potentially causing hypertension. In this report, we describe the development of a human angiotensinogen transgenic mouse model generated by targeting the human angiotensinogen gene upstream of the mouse HPRT locus by homologous recombination. The main benefit of this transgenic mouse model is that the human angiotensinogen gene is inserted into the mouse genome as a single copy at a predefined locus and in a specific orientation-a process that can be repeated utilizing other variants of this gene. We establish the validity of this approach by showing that the hAGT(hprt) mice have normal tissue- and cell-specific expression of the human angiotensinogen gene and normally produce and process the hAGT protein at physiological levels.