Babinet C
Biologie du Développement, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Pathol Biol (Paris). 1998 Feb;46(2):115-7.
The availability, in the mouse, of embryonic stem cells (ES cells) which have the ability to colonize the germ line of a developing embryo, has opened entirely new avenues to the genetic approach of embryonic development, physiology and pathology of this animal. Indeed, it is now possible, using homologous recombination in ES cells, to introduce mutations in any gene as long as it has been cloned. Thus, null as well as more subtle mutations can be created. Furthermore, scenarios are currently being derived which will allow one to generate conditional mutations. Taken together, these methods offer a tremendous tool to study gene function in vivo; they also open the way to creating murine models of human genetic diseases.
小鼠胚胎干细胞（ES细胞）具有定殖于发育中胚胎生殖系的能力，这为该动物胚胎发育、生理学及病理学的遗传学研究开辟了全新途径。实际上，利用ES细胞中的同源重组，只要某个基因已被克隆，现在就有可能在该基因中引入突变。因此，可以产生无效突变以及更为细微的突变。此外，目前正在推导一些方案，这些方案将能使人产生条件性突变。综合起来，这些方法为在体内研究基因功能提供了一个强大工具；它们也为创建人类遗传疾病的小鼠模型开辟了道路。
