Transgenic Mutagenesis Assay to Elucidaate the Mechanism of Mutation at Gene Level

유전자수준에서 돌연변이 유발기전을 밝히는 Transgenic Mutagenesis Assay

Transgenic animal and cell line models which are recently developed and used in toxicology fields combined with molecular biological technique, are powerful tools to study the mechanism of mutation in vivo and in vitro, respectively. Transgenic models, which have exogenous DNA incorporated into their genome, carry recoverable shuttle vector containing reporter genes to assess endogenous effects or alteration in specific genes related to disease processes. The lac I and lac Z gnee most widely used as a mutational target in transgenic systems. The assay is performed by treatment with putative mutagenic agents, isolation of genomic DNA from cells or tissues, exposure the isolated DNA to in vitro packaging extract, plating and sequencing. The results from these processes provide not only mutant frequency as quantitative evaluation but also mutational spectrum as qualitative evaluation of various agents. Therefore we introduce and review the principle, detailed procedure and application of transgenic mutagenesis assay system in toxicology fields especially in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.