Strain Detail: C57BL/6N.129/SvJ-Slc3a2^tm1 mice

CD98, aka 4F2 antigen, is a protein composed of heavy (CD98hc, Slc3a2) and light chains. CD98 is involved in various activities, such as amino acid transport, lymphocyte activation, integrin regulation, and fusion regulation. Since CD98hc deficient mice are embryonic lethal (Ref. 1)， this conditional knockout mouse strain was produced with floxed exon 3 of Slc3a2 gene (Ref. 2). Researchers can induce conditional KO in the Slc3a2 gene by crossing mice with Cre recombinase expression. This strain was derived from ES cells with 129 background (EW4 cell line) and then backcrossed to C57BL/6N mice (N=18 at introduction into NIBIOHN). This strain is useful for studying CD98hc functions in various tissues.

1. Tsumura H, Suzuki N, Saito H, Kawano M, Otake S, Kozuka Y, Komada H, Tsurudome M, and Ito Y. (2003) The targeted disruption of the CD98 gene results in embryonic lethality. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 308(4):847-51. [PMID:12927796]
2. Tsumura H, Ito M, Li XK, Nakamura A, Ohnami N, Fujimoto J, Komada H, and Ito Y. (2012) The role of CD98hc in mouse macrophage functions. Cell. Immunol. 276(1-2):128-34. [PMID:22624878]