TY - JOUR
T1 - New mouse lines for the analysis of neuronal morphology using CreER(T)/loxP-directed sparse labeling
AU - Badea, Tudor C.
AU - Hua, Zhong L.
AU - Smallwood, Phillip M.
AU - Williams, John
AU - Rotolo, Thomas
AU - Ye, Xin
AU - Nathans, Jeremy
PY - 2009/11/16
Y1 - 2009/11/16
N2 - Background: Pharmacologic control of Cre-mediated recombination using tamoxifen-dependent activation of a Cre-estrogen receptor ligand binding domain fusion protein [CreER(T)] is widely used to modify and/or visualize cells in the mouse. Methods and Findings: We describe here two new mouse lines, constructed by gene targeting to the Rosa26 locus to facilitate Cre-mediated cell modification. These lines should prove particularly useful in the context of sparse labeling experiments. The R26rtTACreER line provides ubiquitous expression of CreER under transcriptional control by the tetracycline reverse transactivator (rtTA); dual control by doxycycline and tamoxifen provides an extended dynamic range of Cre-mediated recombination activity. The R26IAP line provides high efficiency Cre-mediated activation of human placental alkaline phosphatase (hPLAP), complementing the widely used, but low efficiency, Z/AP line. By crossing with mouse lines that direct cell-type specific CreER expression, the R26IAP line has been used to produce atlases of labeled cholinergic and catecholaminergic neurons in the mouse brain. The R26IAP line has also been used to visualize the full morphologies of retinal dopaminergic amacrine cells, among the largest neurons in the mammalian retina. Conclusions: The two new mouse lines described here expand the repertoire of genetically engineered mice available for controlled in vivo recombination and cell labeling using the Cre-lox system.
AB - Background: Pharmacologic control of Cre-mediated recombination using tamoxifen-dependent activation of a Cre-estrogen receptor ligand binding domain fusion protein [CreER(T)] is widely used to modify and/or visualize cells in the mouse. Methods and Findings: We describe here two new mouse lines, constructed by gene targeting to the Rosa26 locus to facilitate Cre-mediated cell modification. These lines should prove particularly useful in the context of sparse labeling experiments. The R26rtTACreER line provides ubiquitous expression of CreER under transcriptional control by the tetracycline reverse transactivator (rtTA); dual control by doxycycline and tamoxifen provides an extended dynamic range of Cre-mediated recombination activity. The R26IAP line provides high efficiency Cre-mediated activation of human placental alkaline phosphatase (hPLAP), complementing the widely used, but low efficiency, Z/AP line. By crossing with mouse lines that direct cell-type specific CreER expression, the R26IAP line has been used to produce atlases of labeled cholinergic and catecholaminergic neurons in the mouse brain. The R26IAP line has also been used to visualize the full morphologies of retinal dopaminergic amacrine cells, among the largest neurons in the mammalian retina. Conclusions: The two new mouse lines described here expand the repertoire of genetically engineered mice available for controlled in vivo recombination and cell labeling using the Cre-lox system.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0007859
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0007859
M3 - Article
C2 - 19924248
AN - SCOPUS:70649095273
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 4
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 11
M1 - e7859
ER -