Dr. Yi Zhou's Thy1-R18 Transgenic Mice
See SFN abstracts (2010) 53.1/M17 and (2011) 790.09/FF16
From Courtney Graham's Honor's Thesis:
In order to study the role of 14-3-3 proteins in the nervous system_ in vivo_, we have successfully created lines of neuronal-specific transgenic mice that may inhibit 14-3-3 dependent cellular processes. These transgenic mice express a YFP-fused peptide (R18) which binds to endogenous 14-3-3, and thus blocking its capability to interact with its binding partners; and are therefore considered to be a functional knockout. The transgenes are expressed under the control of the Thy-1 promoter which is neuronal-specific and produces variation of transgene expression in different brain regions, which is great among founder lines but minimal among descendants of a single founder (Feng et al. 2000). To minimize strain-dependent genetic variation, we have backcrossed the founder lines with wild-type C57BL/6 mice for at least 8 generations.
R18 peptide paper: PMID 10493820
Thy-1 Promoter paper: PMID 11086982