A pair of FRT sites have been introduced into the endogenous sima locus (one upstream of exon 2, one downstream of exon 6), resulting in a conditional null allele in which sima function can be disrupted by using FLP recombinase to excise this artificial FRT cassette. A loxP cassette encoding the Disc\RFPmCherry.3xP3 marker has also been inserted, downstream of the FRT site that is downstream of sima exon 6.