The construction and characterization of hypoxia responsive reporter genes for use in transgenic mice

grantor: University of TorontoEvidence in the literature suggests that conditions of low oxygen may have a role in the development of the vasculature. To examine the areas of hypoxia in a developing mouse embryo, transgenes were developed coupling hypoxia responsive elements (HRE) to exogenous promoter-reporter cassettes. Transient expression assays with these constructs show that HRE sequences from different sources provide significantly different levels of induction in constant backgrounds. Furthermore, evidence is presented to show that an HRE is not always sufficient to confer hypoxia-sensitive activity to a transgene. Finally, preliminary evidence demonstrates that two HRE transgenes show activity under physiologically relevant oxygen concentrations. The use of HRE-based transgenes in the determination of embryonic hypoxia is discussed.M.Sc