A transgene containing lacZ inserted into the dystonia locus is expressed in neural tube

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Abstract
The site of integration of transgenes in the host genome can affect levels of expression1 and occasionally confer ectopic patterns of expression on otherwise tissue-specific genes2. We describe here a line of mice in which an hsp68-lacZ transgene is expressed in unstressed developing neural tissue and where the transgene insertion has caused a mutation of a neural tissue-specific gene, dystonia musculorum (dt). This coincidence suggests that expression of the hsp68-lacZ construct may be controlled directly by cis-acting regulatory sequences that normally control the developmental expression of the dt gene. Such constructs may serve as useful tools for identifying new tissue-specific enhancers and their associated genes3,4.