title: Highly restricted expression of Cre recombinase in cerebellar Purkinje cells.
abstract: The Purkinje neuron, one of the most fascinating components of the cerebellar cortex, is involved in motor learning, motor coordination, and cognitive function. Purkinje cell protein 2 (Pcp2/L7) expression is highly restricted to Purkinje and retinal bipolar cells, where it has been exploited to enable highly specific, Cre recombinase-mediated, site-specific recombination. Previous studies showed that mice carrying a Cre transgene produced by insertion of Cre cDNA into a small 2.88-kb Pcp2 DNA fragment expressed Cre in Purkinje cells; however, some Cre activity was also observed outside the target tissues. Here, we used Red-mediated recombineering to insert Cre cDNA into a 173-kb BAC carrying the entire intact Pcp2 gene, and characterize the resultant BAC/Cre transgenic mice for Cre expression. We show that BAC/Cre transgenic mice have exclusive Cre expression in Purkinje and bipolar cells and nowhere else. These mice will facilitate Purkinje cell and retinal bipolar cell-specific genetic manipulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Medicine Building, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Alam Hoi-Lam
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Julian A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tanner
authors.forename: Wu-Tian
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Neal G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Jian-Dong
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000201:enzymology; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009043:Motor Activity; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases