Patent ID: 7579515

Claim:
A method of making a transgenic female mouse, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a recombinant nucleic acid comprising; i. a Tet operator response element and a minimal promoter; ii. a nucleic acid encoding ovine FSHβ operatively associated with said Tet operator response element and said minimal promoter; iii. an FSHβ promoter; iv. an FSHβ locus control region operatively associated with said FSHβpromoter; and v. a nucleic acid encoding a ligand-controllable receptor operatively associated with said FSHβ promoter, wherein said ligand-controllable receptor is a tetracycline-controllable transactivator fusion protein, and wherein tetracycline or an analog thereof acts as a ligand for said transactivator fusion protein; and wherein said receptor binds to said Tet operator response element in the presence of said ligand when expressed in a host cell; and (b) introducing said nucleic acid construct into a fertilized mouse oocyte; (c) implanting said oocyte in a pseudopregnant female mouse; (d) obtaining a chimeric offspring from said female mouse; and then (e) mating said chimeric offspring to obtain a transgenic female mouse whose genome comprises and expresses said nucleic acid, wherein said transgenic female mouse exhibits increased FSHβ production and increased ovulation when administered said ligand than when not administered said ligand.