The RBPMSCreERT2-tdTomato mouse line for studying retinal and vascular relevant diseases

Guilan Li; Yuanting Luo; Qikai Zhang; Wenfei Chen; Kunbei Lai; Yizhi Liu; Yingfeng Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108111

The RBPMS^{CreERT2-tdTomato} mouse line for studying retinal and vascular relevant diseases

iScience. 2023 Oct 2;26(11):108111. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108111. eCollection 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Guilan Li^{1

2}, Yuanting Luo¹, Qikai Zhang¹, Wenfei Chen¹, Kunbei Lai¹, Yizhi Liu^{1

2}, Yingfeng Zheng^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Guangzhou 510060, China.
² Research Units of Ocular Development and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.

Abstract

RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) plays a crucial role in cardiac mesoderm specification and cardiovascular development, as well as being a typical marker for whole retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). However, there is a lack of animal models to spatiotemporally trace the location and function of RBPMS-expressing cells in vivo. In this study, we develop a tamoxifen-inducible RBPMS-tdTomato reporter mouse line to track RBPMS-expressing cells during embryogenesis and adulthood. This mouse line allows us to identify and locate RBPMS-tdTomato-positive cells among various tissues, especially in RGCs and smooth muscle cells, which assist to simulate related retinal degenerative diseases, model and examine choroidal neovascularization non-invasively in vivo. Our results show that the RBPMS^{CreERT2-tdTomato} mouse line is a valuable tool for lineage tracing, disease modeling, drug screening, as well as isolating specific target cells.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Biological sciences research methodologies; Natural sciences; Physiology.