Vigilance, anxiety, epileptic activity, and muscle tone can be modulated by drugs acting at the benzo- (Fig. la) was constructed containing a 6.4-kb genomic region including exons 7, 9, and 10 of the y2 subunit gene isolated from a 129SV mouse genomic library. A 1.2-kb genomic Pvu II-Nco I fragment including exon 8 (coding for amino acids 306-375 of the y2 polypeptide) was replaced with the phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK)-neo cassette (11), and a tk expression cassette (12) was added at the 3' end of the y2 sequence. Splicing from exon 7 to exon 9 would result in a stop of the translational reading frame and prohibit expression of sequences downstream of exon 7. Before electroporation into E14 ES cells (13), the plasmid was linearized at a polylinker site adjacent to the 5' end of the 7y2 genomic sequence. E14 ES cells were cultured on irradiated G418-resistant feeder cells obtained from CD1-M-TKneo2 mouse embryos [BRL, Fullinsdorf (Basel)] in GMEM (Glasgow modification of Eagle's medium; Flow Laboratories) containing 10% total calf serum and leukemia inhibitory factor (103 units/ml, Life Technologies). The cells were transfected and screened for homologous recombinants (14) by using PCR and the primers y2.19 (5'-CATCT CCATC GCTAA GAATG TTCGG derived from 7y2 sequences upstream of the targeting vector and Y2.20 (5'-ATGCT CCAGA CTGCC TTGGG AAAAG C-3') derived from PGK promoter sequences (11). Chimeric mice were generated (15) and mated to C57BL/6 females, and the offspring were genotyped by PtR amplification of tail DNAs. Reactions specific for the disrupted y2 allele [(0) Abbreviations: BZ, benzodiazepine; GABA, y-aminobutyric acid; DRG, dorsal root ganglion (ganglia); ES, embryonic stem; E, embryonic day; P, postnatal day.§To whom reprint requests should be addressed.
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