| Strain description |
The Bruce mice are transgenic mice expressing a probe consisting of lox-tdKeima and cytoplasm-localized föster (or fluorescence) resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor monitoring activity of an enzyme, ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM). ATM is a serine/threonine kinase induced by, e.g., DNA damage. The enzyme is involved in the check point mechanism of the cell cycle. Abnormality of ATM is related to tumorigenesis. The Bruce mice show CAG-promoter-driven systemic expression of Keima fluorescent proteins. By crossing Bruce mice with mice expressing tissue-specific Cre enzyme, tissue-specific switch of expression can be induced from Keima fluorescent protein to FRET biocensors. Observation under the two-photon microscope can visualize temporal and spatial changes of the ATM activity in various tissues of fetus and adult mice. This strain is expected not only for analysis of the signal transduction cascade in live animals, but also for drug development such as the pharmacodynamic analysis targeting signal molecules, because primary cultured cells derived from various tissues of the mice also show rich expression of FRET biocensors. |
