title: The Q system: a repressible binary system for transgene expression, lineage tracing, and mosaic analysis.
abstract: We describe a new repressible binary expression system based on the regulatory genes from the Neurospora qa gene cluster. This "Q system" offers attractive features for transgene expression in Drosophila and mammalian cells: low basal expression in the absence of the transcriptional activator QF, high QF-induced expression, and QF repression by its repressor QS. Additionally, feeding flies quinic acid can relieve QS repression. The Q system offers many applications, including (1) intersectional "logic gates" with the GAL4 system for manipulating transgene expression patterns, (2) GAL4-independent MARCM analysis, and (3) coupled MARCM analysis to independently visualize and genetically manipulate siblings from any cell division. We demonstrate the utility of the Q system in determining cell division patterns of a neuronal lineage and gene function in cell growth and proliferation, and in dissecting neurons responsible for olfactory attraction. The Q system can be expanded to other uses in Drosophila and to any organism conducive to transgenesis.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Bosiljka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tasic
authors.forename: Emilie V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Russler
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Liqun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019070:Cell Lineage; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019076:Transgenes