Dual Recombining-out System for Spatiotemporal Gene Expression in C. elegans

Ming-Hai Ge; Wei Wang; Tai-Hong Wu; Xin Wen; Umar Al-Sheikh; Li-Li Chen; Sheng-Wu Yin; Jing-Jing Wu; Jia-Hao Huang; Qing-Qin He; Hui Liu; Rong Li; Ping-Zhou Wang; Zheng-Xing Wu

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101567

Dual Recombining-out System for Spatiotemporal Gene Expression in C. elegans

iScience. 2020 Sep 15;23(10):101567. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101567. eCollection 2020 Oct 23.

Authors

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Ministry of Education, Institute of Biophysics and Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Specific recording, labeling, and spatiotemporal manipulating neurons are essential for neuroscience research. In this study, we developed a tripartite spatiotemporal gene induction system in C. elegans, which is based on the knockout of two transcriptional terminators (stops in short) by two different recombinases FLP and CRE. The recombinase sites (loxP and FRT) flanked stops after a ubiquitous promoter terminate transcription of target genes. FLP and CRE, induced by two promoters of overlapping expression, remove the stops (subsequent FLP/CRE-out). The system provides an "AND" gate strategy for specific gene expression in single types of cell(s). Combined with an inducible promoter or element, the system can control the spatiotemporal expression of genes in defined cell types, especially in cells or tissues lacking a specific promoter. This tripartite FLP/CRE-out gene expression system is a simple, labor- and cost-saving toolbox for cell type-specific and inducible gene expression in C. elegans.

Keywords: Genetic Engineering; Molecular Biology; Neuroscience.