Mecp2^tm2Bird

Cre recombinase-reversible gene inactivation was accomplished by insertion into intron 2 of a 3.1-kb DNA fragment containing a loxP-flanked "neostop" cassette, which comprises a neomycin resistance cassette followed by a transcriptional/translational "stop" cassette composed of 550 bp of 3' sequence from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae His3 gene, an SV40 polyadenylation sequence, and a synthetic sequence containing a false translation initiation codon (ATG) immediately followed by a consensus splice donor sequence. Despite the production of a read-through transcript, no protein product was detected by western blot or immunofluorescence analysis of brains of mutant mice. (J:75205, J:111323, J:118365)