The transgene was designed with an adiponection (Adipoq) promoter driving expression of the reverse tetracycline transactivator gene (rtTA). The 5.4 kb adiponectin promoter is comprised of 200 bp from the 5' end of the first intron linked to 200 bp from the 3' end of the first intron. The 3' end of the promoter is extended beyond the endogenous start codon ATG, which is mutated to ATA to facilitate correct translation initiation.