Cre-loxp fate-mapping of Pax6 enhancer active retinal and pancreatic progenitors.
Pax6 plays important roles in the control of ocular and pancreatic development. We identified a 450 bp Pax6 enhancer that contains two interacting sequences: a 274 bp fragment sufficient for expression in retinal progenitors and an adjacent 156 bp fragment required for expression in pancreatic progenitors. Since this enhancer is only transiently expressed during embryogenesis, a Cre-loxP fate-mapping strategy was used to investigate the developmental potential of these progenitors. Surprisingly, the labeled retinal precursors predominantly gave rise to horizontal cells, indicating a cell lineage role in horizontal cell differentiation. In the pancreas, all enhancer-specific cells were restricted to endocrine and ductal cell lineages. This result lends support to a model whereby Pax6-expressing progenitors contribute to the adult pancreatic islets and ducts. The progenitor cell-specificity of this enhancer will be useful in studies that require either cell-specific expression or conditional gene inactivation in these cell populations.
Zhang
Xin
X
Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Heaney
Shaun
S
Maas
Richard L
RL
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000502:physiology*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D010179:Pancreas / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology
D005136:Eye Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; C000605732:Pax6 protein, mouse; D012097:Repressor Proteins