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A transgenic mouse that reveals cell shape and arrangement during ureteric bud branching
Author(s) -
Chi Xuan,
Hadjantonakis AnnaKaterina,
Wu Zaiqi,
Hyink Deborah,
Costantini Frank
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
genesis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.093
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1526-968X
pISSN - 1526-954X
DOI - 10.1002/dvg.20452
Subject(s) - ureteric bud , mesonephric duct , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , morphogenesis , kidney development , zone of polarizing activity , genetically modified mouse , transgene , anatomy , limb bud , kidney , embryogenesis , embryo , embryonic stem cell , genetics , gene , ectoderm
Understanding the cellular events that underlie epithelial morphogenesis is a key problem in developmental biology. Here, we describe a new transgenic mouse line that makes it possible to visualize individual cells specifically in the Wolffian duct and ureteric bud, the epithelial structures that give rise to the collecting system of the kidney. myr‐Venus, a membrane‐associated form of the fluorescent protein Venus, was expressed in the ureteric bud lineage under the control of the Hoxb7 promoter. In Hoxb7/myr‐Venus mice, the outlines of all Wolffian duct and ureteric bud epithelial cells are strongly labeled at all stages of urogenital development, allowing the shapes and arrangements of individual cells to be readily observed by confocal microscopy of freshly excised or cultured kidneys. This strain should be extremely useful for studies of cell behavior during ureteric bud branching morphogenesis in wild type and mutant mouse lines. genesis 47:61–66, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.