DNA REGULATORY ELEMENT FOR THE EXPRESSION OF TRANSGENES IN NEURONS OF THE MOUSE FOREBRAIN

摘要

The present invention provides for a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a region of a calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIa promoter operatively linked to a gene of interest. The region of a calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIa promoter may comprise an 8.5 kilobase nucleic acid sequence which corresponds to the nucleic acid sequence of ATCC Accession No. 98582, designated pMM281. The present invention also provides a human cell line which has been stably transformed by a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a gene of interest operatively linked to a nucleic acid encoding a calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase IIa promoter region which has a nucleotide sequence corresponding to the sequence of ATCC Accession No. 98581, designated pMM281. The present invention also provides for a transgenic nonhuman mammal whose germ or somatic cells contain a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a gene of interest under the control of CaMKIIa promoter (ATCC Accession No. 98583), introduced into the mammal, or an ancestor thereof, at an embryonic stage. Another embodiment of the present invention is a method of evaluating whether a compound is effective in treating symptoms of a neurological disorder in a subject, using the transgenic mammal as an in vivo test model.