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Using phiC31 integrase to make transgenic Xenopus laevis embryos
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Using phiC31 integrase to make transgenic Xenopus laevis embryos

Daniel L Weeks and Bryan G Allen
Nature protocols, Vol.1(3), pp.1248-1257
09/2006
DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2006.183
PMID: 17406408
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/8445498View
Open Access

Abstract

Bacteriophage phiC31 produces the enzyme integrase that allows the insertion of the phage genome into its bacterial host. This enzyme recognizes a specific DNA sequence in the phage (attP) and a different sequence in the bacterium (attB). Recombination between these sites leads to integration in a reaction that requires no accessory factors. Seminal studies by the Calos laboratory demonstrated that the phiC31 integrase was capable of integrating plasmid with an attB site into mammalian genomes at sites that approximated the attP site. We describe the use of attB-containing plasmids with insulated reporter genes for the successful integration of DNA into Xenopus embryos. The method offers a way to produce transgenic embryos without manipulation of sperm nuclei using microinjection methods that are standard for experiments in Xenopus laevis. The method aims to allow the non-mosaic controlled expression of new genetic material in the injected embryo and compares favorably with the time that is normally taken to analyze embryos injected with mRNAs, plasmids, morpholinos or oligonucleotides.

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