Generation of mouse renal Epo-producing (REP) cell lines by conditional gene tagging

Red blood cell homeostasis is crucial for oxygen delivery in vertebrates. Erythropoietin (Epo) is the major hormone regulating erythropoiesis in the bone marrow, causing anemia or polycythemia if under- or over-produced, respectively.While the liver is the main site of Epo production in the embryo, in the adult 90% of circulating Epo is produced by the kidney and only the remaining 10% is of hepatic origin. Whereas hepatic and neuronal cell lines are available to study Epo gene regulation, a reliable cell culture model derived from renal Epo-producing (REP) cells is currently not available.Therefore, we generated novel transgenic mouse lines to conditionally tag and isolate active REP cells.