Site-specific Recombinase Technology - Outlook and Perspectives

Outlook and Perspectives

Annotation of the human and mouse genomes has led to the identification of >20 000 protein-coding genes and >3 000 noncoding RNA genes, which guide the development of the organism from fertilization through embryogenesis to adult life. Although dramatic progress is noted, the relevance of rare gene variants has remained a central topic of research.

As one of the most important platforms for dealing with vertebrate gene functions on a large scale, genome-wide genetic resources of mutant murine ES cells have been established. To this end four international programs aimed at saturation mutagenesis of the mouse genome have been founded in Europe and North America (EUCOMM, KOMP, NorCOMM, and TIGM). Coordinated by the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKSC) these ES-cell repositories are available for exchange between international research units. Present resources comprise mutations in 11 539 unique genes, 4 414 of these conditional.

The relevant technologies have now reached a level permitting their extension to other mammalian species and to human stem cells, most prominently those with an iPS (induced pluripotent) status.