title: Dual reporter approaches for identification of Cre efficacy and astrocyte heterogeneity.
abstract: Gene inactivation reporters are powerful tools to circumvent limitations of the widely used Cre/loxP system of conditional mutagenesis. With new conditional transgenic mouse lines expressing the enhanced cyan fluorescent protein (ECFP) instead of connexin43 (Cx43) after Cre-mediated recombination, we demonstrate dual reporter approaches to simultaneously examine astrocyte subpopulations expressing different connexins, identify compensatory up-regulation within gene families, and quantify Cre-mediated deletion at the allelic level. Analysis of a newly generated Cx43 knock-in ECFP mouse revealed an unexpected heterogeneity of Cx43-expressing astrocytes across brain areas.
authors.affiliation: Life and Medical Sciences Institute, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Degen
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dublin
authors.forename: Jiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Radoslaw
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dobrowolski
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jokwitz
authors.forename: Khalad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karram
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Trotter
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jabs
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willecke
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steinhäuser
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D000075302:Connexin 30; D018031:Connexin 43 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017630:Connexins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000075302:Connexin 30; D018031:Connexin 43; D017630:Connexins; C100629:Gjb6 protein, mouse; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C527701:enhanced cyan fluorescent protein; C528900:glial fibrillary astrocytic protein, mouse; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases