Gene trapping is a genetic tool that can be used to isolate mutations according to their resulting phenotype in vivo, to the sequence of the trapped locus and to its expression.

What does gene trapping do?

Gene trapping is a genetic tool that can be used to isolate mutations according to their resulting phenotype in vivo, to the sequence of the trapped locus and to its expression.

What is an enhancer trap Drosophila?

THE enhancer trap technique is a widely used method for studying tissue-specific gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster. Classically, a P element containing the lacZ reporter gene under a minimal promoter is mobilized throughout the genome using a transposase source.

What is a gene trap mouse?

Gene trapping in embryonic stem cells Gene trapping is a strategy for random insertional mutagenesis. The aim is to mutagenize an endogenous gene of the mouse genome at the integration site by insertion of a specific designed trap vector.

What does a promoterless gene do?

Gene targeting by homologous recombination provides the definitive tool for analyzing gene function. Promoterless vectors, which do not possess a promoter to drive marker gene expression, confer higher targeting efficiencies than conventional vectors due to the reduced number of drug-resistant clones.

How do you knock down a gene?

RNA interference (RNAi) is a means of silencing genes by way of mRNA degradation. Gene knockdown by this method is achieved by introducing small double-stranded interfering RNAs (siRNA) into the cytoplasm. Small interfering RNAs can originate from inside the cell or can be exogenously introduced into the cell.

How do enhancers control gene expression?

Enhancers are DNA-regulatory elements that activate transcription of a gene or genes to higher levels than would be the case in their absence. These elements function at a distance by forming chromatin loops to bring the enhancer and target gene into proximity23.

Can enhancers regulate multiple genes?

Enhancers can be located close to or several hundred kilobases away from their gene targets and they do not necessarily regulate their nearest gene. Multiple enhancers often regulate a single gene, and multiple genes can be regulated by a single enhancer.

What is an enhancer trap in biology?

With enhancer traps, detailed gene expression patterns in specific tissues or cells can be characterized. In enhancer traps, a promoter, usually a P -transposable element, is inserted into the genome together with a reporter gene such as lacZ and GAL4.

How does a gene trap work?

Thus, gene traps simultaneously inactivate and report the expression of the trapped gene at the insertion site, and provide a DNA tag (gene trap sequence tag, GTST) for the rapid identification of the disrupted gene. The International Gene Trap Consortium is centralizing the data and supplies modified cell lines.

How is the gene trap cassette transcribed?

When inserted into an intron of an expressed gene, the gene trap cassette is transcribed from the endogenous promoter of that gene in the form of a fusion transcript in which the exon (s) upstream of the insertion site is spliced in frame to the reporter/selectable marker gene.

What are promoter traps in embryonic stem cells?

“Promoter traps in embryonic stem cells: a genetic screen to identify and mutate developmental genes in mice”. Genes & Development. 5 (9): 1513–23. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.9.1513.