Novel ROSA26 Cre-reporter knock-in C57BL/6N mice exhibiting green emission before and red emission after Cre-mediated recombination

Exp Anim. 2013;62(4):295-304. doi: 10.1538/expanim.62.295.

Abstract

The Cre/loxP system is a strategy for controlling temporal and/or spatial gene expression through genome alteration in mice. As successful Cre/loxP genome alteration depends on Cre-driver mice, Cre-reporter mice are essential for validation of Cre gene expression in vivo. In most Cre-reporter mouse strains, although the presence of reporter product indicates the expression of Cre recombinase, it has remained unclear whether a lack of reporter signal indicates either no Cre recombinase expression or insufficient reporter gene promoter activity. We produced a novel ROSA26 knock-in Cre-reporter C57BL/6N strain exhibiting green emission before and red after Cre-mediated recombination, designated as strain R26GRR. Ubiquitous green fluorescence and no red fluorescence were observed in R26GRR mice. To investigate the activation of tdsRed, EGFP-excised R26GRR, R26RR, mice were produced through the crossing of C57BL/6N mice with R26GRR/Ayu1-Cre F1 mice. R26RR mice showed extraordinarily strong red fluorescence in almost all tissues examined, suggesting ubiquitous activation of the second reporter in all tissues after Cre/loxP recombination. Moreover, endothelial cell lineage and pancreatic islet-specific expression of red fluorescence were detected in R26GRR/Tie2-Cre F1 mice and R26GRR /Ins1-Cre F1 mice, respectively. These results indicated that R26GRR mice are a useful novel Cre-reporter mouse strain. In addition, R26GRR mice with a pure C57BL/6N background represent a valuable source of green-to-red photoconvertible cells following Cre/loxP recombination for application in transplantation studies. The R26GRR mouse strain will be available from RIKEN BioResource Center (http://www.brc.riken.jp/lab/animal/en/).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Embryonic Stem Cells
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism
  • Female
  • Gene Expression*
  • Gene Knock-In Techniques
  • Genes, Reporter / genetics*
  • Genes, Reporter / physiology*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism*
  • Integrases / genetics*
  • Integrases / metabolism*
  • Islets of Langerhans / metabolism
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Recombination, Genetic
  • Red Fluorescent Protein
  • Ubiquitination

Substances

  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Cre recombinase
  • Integrases