title: Cre Activated and Inactivated Recombinant Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors for Neuronal Anatomical Tracing or Activity Manipulation.
abstract: Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) transcriptionally activated by Cre recombinase (Cre-On) are powerful tools for determining the anatomy and function of genetically defined neuronal types in transgenic Cre driver mice. Here we describe how rAAVs transcriptionally inactivated by Cre (Cre-Off) can be used in conjunction with Cre-On rAAVs or genomic Cre-reporter alleles to study brain circuits. Intracranial injection of Cre-On/Cre-Off rAAVs into spatially intermingled Cre(+) and Cre(-) neurons allows these populations to be differentially labeled or manipulated within individual animals. This comparison helps define the unique properties of Cre(+) neurons, highlighting the specialized role they play in their constituent brain circuits. This protocol touches on the conceptual and experimental background of Cre-Off rAAV systems, including caveats and methods of validation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Arpiar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Bernardo L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Sabatini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019426:Integrases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases
keywords: AAV; Cre-dependent virus; Cre-lox; rAAV; viral tracer