Production of human β_2 microglobulin transgenic mice

Objective: To produce human β 2 microglobulin transgenic mice for the study of human HLA B2704 gene related to arthrospondylosis in Chinese. Methods: Human β 2m gene was introduced into fertiliged eggs of C57/6×Kunming and Kunming ×Kunming F 1 mice by microinjection. By PCR, the founder mice and their progeny were screened for integration of the human β 2m transgene into the mouse genomes which were further confirmed by Southern blotting. The copy number of transgenes was determined by dot blotting. The expression of human β 2m transgene in mice at the mRNA level was analysed by RT PCR. Results: Six founder mice and seven founder F 1 contained human β 2m genes. Four of 35 (11.4%) hybrid mice from C57BL/6×Kunming and two of 51 (3.9%)hybrid mice from Kunming×Kunming background carried human β 2m genes. Statistical analysis showed that there was significant difference of the integration rate between the two groups ( P 0.05 ), and seven of 20 hybrid mice from founder mice containing human β 2m gene ×Kunming background carried human β 2m gene. The transgene was single copy in all the founder mice and founder F 1. The human β 2m gene was expressed at the mRNA level in skin, colon, testicle and spleen tissues of the transgenic mice. Conclusion: Human β 2m transgenic mice have been obtained. For the production of transgenic mice, C57BL/6×Kunming F 1 is better than Kunming×Kunming F 1. Compared with the HLA B2704 gene, the integration of human β 2m gene into mouse genome is more difficult