Aoki Koji, Taketo Makoto M
Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoé-cho, Sakyo, Japan.
Methods Mol Biol. 2008;468:307-31. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-249-6_24.
The Wnt signaling pathway plays key roles in the development and homeostasis of a number of organs such as the brain, lung, liver, heart, gastrointestinal tract, mammary gland, skin, and bone, as well as of the immune system. Studies on conventional knockout mice of the genes in the Wnt signaling pathway have revealed its essential roles in these tissues; however, most of these knockout mice die during embryogenesis or soon after birth. Through more advanced techniques such as Cre/loxP and tetracycline-inducible systems, a gene of interest can be expressed or inactivated in a tissue-specific and time-controlled manner. Here we review recent papers on the tissue-specific transgenic, conditional knockout and knock-in mice of the genes in the Wnt signaling pathway In addition to such engineered mice, we also list reporter mice that have been generated to determine the activity of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway in mouse tissues.
Wnt信号通路在许多器官（如脑、肺、肝、心、胃肠道、乳腺、皮肤和骨骼）以及免疫系统的发育和稳态中发挥关键作用。对Wnt信号通路中基因的传统基因敲除小鼠的研究揭示了其在这些组织中的重要作用；然而，这些基因敲除小鼠大多在胚胎发育期间或出生后不久死亡。通过更先进的技术，如Cre/loxP和四环素诱导系统，可以以组织特异性和时间可控的方式表达或失活感兴趣的基因。在此，我们综述了最近关于Wnt信号通路中基因的组织特异性转基因、条件性敲除和敲入小鼠的论文。除了这类工程小鼠外，我们还列出了为确定小鼠组织中经典Wnt信号通路活性而构建的报告基因小鼠。
