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11Gene Function Analysis Using the ChickenB-Cell Line DT40Randolph B Caldwell, Petra Fiedler, Ulrike Schoetz,and Jean-Marie BuersteddeSummaryQuidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem!—Whatever you do, do it wisely and considerthe goal. In consideration of that sage advice, the chicken B-cell line DT40 is an excellent modelcell system to study the function of vertebrate genes. In addition to being highly amenable to genemanipulations, the recent influx of genome and gene/protein resources allows for the straightforwardselection, design, and targeting of candidate genes for knockout analysis. This chapter willgive a step by step standardized protocol to creating a gene knockout mutant in DT40. With carefulconsideration, the methods and protocols described herein can be easily modified to allow forfurther gene manipulations such as creating a knockin or a conditional mutant.Key Words: Conditional mutant; DT40; gene function analysis; gene manipulation; genotype;homologous recombination; knockin; knockout; phenotype; targeting.1. IntroductionAdvantages of DT40 include the high homologous recombination activityfacilitating targeted gene manipulations (1), the availability of tightly regulatedconditional gene expression systems and the ability to study genetic interactionsby the stepwise modification of multiple loci using marker recycling (2).DT40 is particularly suited for genetic analysis if (1) the main phenotype of thegene loss can be studied in cell culture, (2) gene functions are conserved duringevolution, and (3) interactions between multiple genes need to be analyzed andthe genes of interest are essential for murine embryonic development.The recent release of the chicken genome sequence has greatly benefited theDT40 research community (3). For the first time, the genome can be searchedFrom: Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 408: Gene Function AnalysisEdited by: M. Ochs © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ193

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