Making transgenic mice: is it really that easy?

Article Abstract:

Hailed as the "cold fusion" of biology, a paper released recently by Corrado Spadafora and colleagues at the University of Rome has prompted many attempts by research groups around the world to reproduce the results. The Spadafora paper claims that a bacterial gene has been introduced into the genetic material of mice through a simple technique. In his method, bacterial DNA was simply mixed with the sperm of male mice, which was then used to fertilize females. The resultant pups showed biochemical evidence that the gene had been incorporated, although somewhat rearranged. However, the tissues from these animals were able to manufacture the specific protein, never found naturally in animals, that is the product of the bacterial gene. The current method of making transgenic mice (as the inclusion of foreign DNA is called) is by carefully injecting the material into the cell nuclei of fertilized mouse embryos (outside of the body) and implanting them back into mother mice. This method requires expensive equipment and training, and in general is just not simple. The Spadafora method, if found to be consistently reproducible, could lead to a biologic revolution, yielding many products and capabilities. The staff of Science magazine has attempted to contact many experimenters around the world who are involved in confirming the experiment, but there are no current reports which unequivocally back up Spadafora's claims.

Evaluation, Genetic engineering, Mice as laboratory animals, House mouse, Genetic research, Spadefora, Corrado

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Mutant mice and worms help solve mysteries of olfaction

Article Abstract:

Research suggests that olfaction occurs when odors increase the production of intercellular messenger cyclic AMP (cAMP). Knockout mice lacking ion channels that cAMP must open to cause neurons to fire could not smell, which indicates that the sense of smell relies on the cAMP-activated ion channel.

Ion channels, Smell, Cyclic adenylic acid, Cyclic adenosine monophosphate

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"Obese" protein slims mice

Article Abstract:

Three independent teams succeeding in getting obese mice to lose weight and maintain the loss by injecting them with the protein coded for by the obese gene ob. There is a potential for weight-loss drugs, but obesity in humans does not appear to be as directly related to the ob gene as in mice.

Weight loss, Blood proteins, Obesity gene

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