Tg(Cryaa-cre,Tyr)37Mlr

The mouse alpha A crystallin promoter (nucleotides -282 through +43 of the Cryaa gene) drives expression of the cre recombinase coding sequence, which is followed by the intron and polyadenylation signal of the mouse metallothionein 1 gene. Seven founder lines were generated using this construct, which in this line was coinjected with a tyrosinase minigene. In transgenic mice of this line also carrying Gt(ROSA)26Sortm1Sor, X-Gal staining for beta-galactosidase activity demonstrates low level cre recombinase expression in lens epithelium and higher level expression in lens fiber cells; ectopic ocular expression is observed in the retina, retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and cornea. (J:90292)