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Conditional gene knockout is a technique used to eliminate a specific gene in a certain tissue, such as the liver. [1] [2] This technique is useful to study the role of individual genes in living organisms. It differs from traditional gene knockout because it targets specific genes at specific times rather than being deleted from beginning of life.
The Cre-Lox system is widely used to manipulate gene expression in model organisms such as mice in order to study human diseases and drug development. [3] For example, using the Cre-Lox system, researchers are able to study oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and their role in the development and progression of cancer in mouse models.
The International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) is a scientific endeavour to produce a collection of mouse embryonic stem cell lines that together lack every gene in the genome, and then to distribute the cells to scientific researchers to create knockout mice to study.
A complete gene knockout permanently inactivates the gene, while a conditional gene knockout allows for the gene to be turned off and on at specific times or in specific tissues. Conditional knockouts are particularly useful for studying developmental processes and for understanding the role of a gene in specific cell types or tissues.
Examples of research in which knockout mice have been useful include studying and modeling different kinds of cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, substance abuse, anxiety, aging and Parkinson's disease. Knockout mice also offer a biological and scientific context in which drugs and other therapies can be developed and tested.
The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) is an international scientific endeavour to create and characterize the phenotype of 20,000 knockout mouse strains. [1] [2] [3] Launched in September 2011, [1] the consortium consists of over 15 research institutes across four continents with funding provided by the NIH, European national governments and the partner institutions.
Gene knockdown is an experimental technique by which the expression of one or more of an organism's genes is reduced. The reduction can occur either through genetic modification or by treatment with a reagent such as a short DNA or RNA oligonucleotide that has a sequence complementary to either gene or an mRNA transcript.
Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born molecular geneticist and a co-awardee of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method to create mice in which a specific gene is turned off, known as knockout mice.