SV40 driven transgenic mice question

[John O'Neil]

Hi,

I am in the process of designing / creating a vector that will allow regulatable tissue specific expression of my favourite oncogene in adult mice. My basic design is “SV40 promoter – beta globin intron - Floxed STOP cassette - oncogene -SV40 poly A sequence”. My rational for this design is that I have access to mice that express tamoxifen-inducible cre recombinase from tissue specific promoters. Therefore my plasmid is to be a “one size fits all” vector where expression of my oncogene is switched on in the desired tissue in adult mice by cre-mediated excision of the STOP cassette following tamoxifen administration.

My question, or rather my worry, is with regard to the SV40 promoter. I have read mixed reports on the longevity of SV40 driven transgene expression in mice and would be very grateful for anyone’s experience / advice.

Many thanks,

John.