YAC Protocols

Preparation of YAC end fragments from the whitehead/MIT mouse YAC library pRML vectors.

Generation of YAC transgenic mice by ICSI

Transgenic mice carrying an Xist-containing YAC.

The initiation of X-chromosome inactivation in female mammals is controlled by a key locus, the X-inactivation centre (Xic). The Xist gene, which maps to the candidate region for Xic and is expressed exclusively from the inactive X chromosome, is thought to be an essential component of the Xic. To test whether sequences spanning several hundred kilobases and including Xist from the Xic region a...

Yeast colony size reflects YAC copy number.

A novel strategy for separation of co-cloned YACs was developed. For this, yeast cells were grown under non-selective conditions to allow the mitotic loss of multiple YACs. Yeast colonies of different size appear on 'drop-out' selection plates with small clones consistently containing a single-copy YAC. Different auxotrophic marker genes can be used to separate co-cloned YACs or reduce their co...

Commentary YAC transgenes : Bigger is probably better

A number of recent articles have reported the successful generation of transgenic mouse lines carrying large fragments of DNA contained in yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) (1-5). The ability to transfer such large segments of DNA provides a number of opportunities, including the analysis ofthe function of large genes or gene clusters in their natural DNA configuration, the study of the influ...