Live mouse mutagenesis systems for testing mutagenic agents in vivo

摘要

Novel transgenic nonhuman animals, such as transgenic mice, for detecting and characterizing mutations in vivo are disclosed. When detecting reverse mutations, such as mutations of the APRT gene, the transgenic nonhuman animal now afford the unique advantage of detecting and characterizing mutations in vivo without having to sacrifice the animals as required heretofore. Moreover, since the transgenic nonhuman animals do not need to be sacrificed, they provide the unique opportunity to correlate the incidence and location of tumors (carcinogenesis) with the incidence and location of mutagenesis. Also disclosed are novel constructs, cell lines and chimeric animals for producing the novel transgenic animals. Novel methods for detecting and characterizing the mutations in vivo and producing animals for use in accordance with the methods of the instant invention are disclosed.