title: Endothelial cell-specific expression of Cre recombinase in transgenic mice.
abstract: Endothelial cells participate in angiogenesis, vascular homeostasis, thrombosis, inflammation and vascular wall remodeling. To study the function of genes in endothelial cells using Cre-loxP system, we generated Tie2-Cre transgenic mice, in which expression of Cre recombinase is driven by Tie2 promoter. Total six founder mice carrying the Tie2-Cre transgene were identified by genomic PCR and Southern blot. The integration efficiency is 11%. In order to test the excision activity and tissue distribution of the Cre recombinase, the Tie2-Cre transgenic line was crossed with the mouse strain carrying the Smad4 conditional alleles (Smad4(Co/Co)) or the reporter line ROSA26. PCR of multiple tissue DNA from Tie2-Cre; Smad4(Co/+) mice revealed the Cre activity in all tissues containing endothelial cells. We detected pan-endothelial expression of the Cre transgene in Tie2-Cre; ROSA26 double transgenic embryos by lacZ staining. Therefore, this mouse line may serve as a valuable tool for endothelial cell lineage analyses and conditional gene ablation in endothelial cells.
authors.affiliation: Genetic Laboratory of Development and Diseases, Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing 100071, China. dragonliwen@sohu.com
authors.forename: Wen-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Xiao-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ji-Shuai
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yan-Song
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D051901:Smad4 Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C110853:Gt(ROSA)26Sor non-coding RNA, mouse; D011506:Proteins; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D051901:Smad4 Protein; C490810:Smad4 protein, mouse; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases