use of female Cre mice - (Jul/10/2012 )

I'm hoping for some lore clarification. I've tried a google search and have not had much luck.

I am interested in generating Cre/+;flx/+ mice as rapidly as possible and unfortunately I only have a single flx/flx mating pair to work with who have yet to produce any litters (our collaborator was short on mice and very kind to send us any). I recall some lore from a previous lab that using Cre positive female mice in a mating scheme could be dangerous - I think this was due to the possibility of Cre losing gene specificity and being ubiquitously expressed. I believe that this was a strain specific problem as I know people who use female Cre mice in their matings to get the genotypes they expect. I have asked current lab members about this but have gotten varied answers: one person believes that using female Cre mice in a mating causes the Cre to be lost and another person says that using female Cre mice is simply a bad idea. I would like to know what precisely the danger of using female Cre mice is and if it is in fact strain specific so that I can start testing the Cre strains I want to use to see if there is a problem using them.

I believe that has to do with low level of Cre activity in the oocytes of female mice. "Cre must be transmitted through the male mice to avoid small, but significant oocyte-mediated recombination"

If you google "cre + oocyte" you will be able to dig out some information about your question.

Greatly appreciated, I will look that up. Thanks!