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Specificity and efficiency of reporter expression in adult neural progenitors vary substantially among nestin‐CreER T2 lines
Author(s) -
Sun MinYu,
Yetman Michael J.,
Lee TangCheng,
Chen Yuqing,
Jankowsky Joanna L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.23497
Subject(s) - nestin , biology , reporter gene , transgene , population , progenitor cell , neural stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , neuroscience , genetics , gene , stem cell , sociology , demography
Transgenic lines expressing a controllable form of Cre recombinase have become valuable tools for manipulating gene expression in adult neural progenitors and their progeny. Neural progenitors express several proteins that distinguish them from mature neurons, and the promoters for these genes have been co‐opted to produce selective transgene expression within this population. To date, nine CreER T2 transgenic lines have been designed using the nestin promoter; however, only a subset are capable of eliciting expression within both neurogenic zones of the adult brain. Here we compare three such nestin‐CreER T2 lines to evaluate specificity of expression and efficiency of recombination. Each line was examined by using three different Cre reporter strains that varied in sensitivity. We found that all three nestin‐CreER T2 strains induced reporter expression within the main neurogenic areas, albeit to varying degrees depending on the reporter. Unexpectedly, we found that two of the three lines induced substantial reporter expression outside of neurogenic areas. These lines produced strong labeling in cerebellar granule neurons, with additional expression in the cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and thalamus. Reporter expression in the third nestin‐CreER T2 line was considerably more specific, but was also less efficient, labeling a smaller percentage of the target population than the other two drivers. Our findings suggest that each nestin‐CreER T2 line may best serve different experimental needs, depending on whether specificity or efficiency is of greatest concern. Our study further demonstrates that each new pair of driver and responder lines should be evaluated independently, as both components can significantly influence the resulting expression pattern. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:1191–1208, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.