The present invention relates to mammals into which foreign DNA has been introduced
or in which various modifications or substitutions have been made to an integrin
subunit, thereby generating transgenic or genetically-engineered non-human
mammals. In particular, the present invention provides a transgenic mammal in which
the endogenous GP IIIa gene has been replaced with an altered or mutant GP IIIa
gene in which one or all of the phosphorylable cytoplasmic tyrosine residues have
been replaced with non-tyrosine residues such as phenylalanine. Since the platelets
in the blood of the resultant transgenic mammals expressing in wild-type mammals,
these genetically-engineered animals provide a critical tool for assessing the
importance of the phosphorylation reaction for platelet function. The invention
is also useful for studying the effect of the mutant GP IIIa integrin subunit on
biological processes other than platelet formation.