Production of transgenic mice carrying the human hepatitis B virus or the human papillomavirus DNA sequences in Taiwan: analysis of physical structure and hereditary mode

Abstract

In order to produce suitable animal model systems for the analysis of possible synergistic interaction between hepatitis B virus (HBV) or the human papillomavirus (HPV) with other viral or chemical co-factors, we have produced transgenic mice carrying HBV, HPV16 or HPV18. Transfer of 3343 micro-injected one-cell (C57/BL6 X CBA) F1 embryos into pseudo-pregnant ICR recipients produced 181 pups. Seventeen of 151 of the pups analysed were found to be transgenics. Southern blot and slot blot analysis showed that the copy number of the transgenome in the transgenic mice ranged from 1-50 copies per cell. All the transgenomes analysed appeared to be in tandem repeats without detectable sequence rearrangements. The transgenome sequences were also stable on transmission to the F3 generation. On breeding, six of the ten transgenic mice analysed showed the Mendelian mode of inheritance with integration at single or multiple loci. Of the remaining four mice, three were mosaics and one was sterile. Analysis of the gene expression of the transgenic mice is currently in progress.