title: Highly B lymphocyte-specific tamoxifen inducible transgene expression of CreER T2 by using the LC-1 locus BAC vector.
abstract: The generation of cell type specific inducible Cre transgenic mice is the most challenging and limiting part in the development of spatio-temporally controlled knockout mouse models. Here we report the generation and characterization of a B lymphocyte-specific tamoxifen-inducible Cre transgenic mouse strain, LC-1-hCD19-CreER(T2). We utilized the human CD19 promoter for expression of the tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase (CreER(T2)) gene, embedded in genomic sequences previously reported to give minimal position effects after transgenesis. Cre recombinase activity was evaluated by cross-breeding the LC-1-hCD19-CreER(T2) strain with a strain containing a floxed gene widely expressed in the hematopoietic system. Cre activity was only detected in the presence of tamoxifen and was restricted to B lymphocytes. The efficacy of recombination ranged from 27 to 61% in the hemizygous and homozygous mice, respectively. In conclusion, the LC-1-hCD19-CreER(T2) strain is a powerful tool to study gene function specifically in B lymphocytes at any chosen time point in the lifecycle of the mouse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boross
authors.forename: Cor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Breukel
authors.forename: Pieter Fokko
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: van Loo
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Kaa
authors.forename: Jill W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Claassens
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bujard
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schönig
authors.forename: J Sjef
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Verbeek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018941:Antigens, CD19 / Q000235:genetics; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; D017931:DNA Primers; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D018941:Antigens, CD19; D017931:DNA Primers; D013629:Tamoxifen; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases