Expression of the Exogenous Chicken δ-Crystallin Genes Incorporated in Mouse Teratocarcinoma Cells

Abstract

There is little doubt that the examination of expression of cloned foreign genes transferred into cells is one of the most powerful approaches to the elucidation of the mechanism of cell differentiation in terms of gene expression. Three different cell systems are provided for studies along this line. Studies on the expression of chick δ-crystallin genes (δ-genes), which are active very specifically in the lens tissuein situ, are one of the examples toward this goal (Kondohet al., in this volume). Although such a system deals with the expression of a single specific gene in artificial conditions, there is little doubt that the results will provide basic knowledge for understanding coordinated gene expression in the normal process of cell differentiation. In the article by Kondohet al., transitory expression has been thoroughly investigated after nuclear injection of the δ-crystallin genes. Naturally, it is also interesting to examine the expression of foreign genes which are stably integrated into host chromosomes.