This transgene consists of a hybrid Thy1 gene which contains 1.5 kb 5' flanking sequences of the murine Thy1 gene, a 5.7 kb EcoRI-ApaI mouse Thy1a (Thy1.1) gene fragment containing the first 4 exons (including exons 1a and 1b) and part of exon 4 that is fused to a 3.4 kb ApaI-EcoRI human THY1 DNA sequence containing the remaining noncoding part of exon IV plus 3' human flanking sequence. High levels of hybrid transgene expression is seen in glomerular podocytes.