Patent ID: 8921642
Filing Date: 2014-12-30
Classification: A01K,C07K,C12N

Abstract:
1. A transgenic mouse having a recombinant nucleic acid molecule stably integrated into the genome of said mouse, said nucleic acid molecule comprising: (i) a strong ubiquitous promoter; (ii) downstream of said strong ubiquitous promoter, a conditional-STOP cassette comprising a coding region of a protein and polyadenylation signal, flanked on either side by a recombinase recognition site; and (iii) downstream of said conditional-STOP cassette, a sequence encoding a fusion protein comprising a caspase linked in frame with a FK Binding Protein (FKBP) or variant thereof, wherein said fusion protein is not expressed when said conditional-STOP cassette is present in the construct, wherein expression of a recombinase in an auditory hair cell of the mouse results in expression of the fusion protein in the auditory hair cell, and exposure of the mouse to an FKBP dimerizing agent results in hearing loss in the mouse; or expression of a recombinase in pancreatic beta cell of the mouse results in expression of the fusion protein, and exposure of the mouse to an FKBP dimerizing agent results in an increase in a blood glucose level in the mouse.