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Generating Genetic Mosaic Mouse Embryos or Organoids for Studies of Kidney Development

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Kidney Organogenesis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1926))

Abstract

For studies of gene function during development, it can be very useful to generate mosaic embryos in which a small subset of cells in a given cell lineage lacks a gene of interest and carries a marker that allows the mutant cells to be specifically visualized and compared to wild-type cells. Several methods have been used to generate genetically mosaic mouse kidneys for such studies. These include (1) chimeric embryos generated using embryonic stem cells, (2) chimeric renal organoids generated by dissociation and reaggregation of the fetal kidneys, (3) generation of a knockout allele with a built-in reporter gene, (4) mosaic analysis with double markers (MADM), and (5) mosaic mutant analysis with spatial and temporal control of recombination (MASTR). In this chapter, these five methods are described, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

Research in the author’s laboratory has been supported by grants 2R01DK083289 and 5R01DK075578 from the NIH. I thank Dr. Shifaan Thowfeequ for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Frank Costantini .

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Costantini, F. (2019). Generating Genetic Mosaic Mouse Embryos or Organoids for Studies of Kidney Development. In: Vainio, S. (eds) Kidney Organogenesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1926. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9021-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9021-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9020-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9021-4

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