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Conditional Lineage Tracing in the Mouse Dorsal Root Ganglion
Author(s) -
Smith Allen,
Rowe Jeremy,
Wolfe Kaleb,
Murray Richard
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.727.10
Subject(s) - neural crest , fate mapping , biology , dorsal root ganglion , cre recombinase , progenitor cell , cell fate determination , embryonic stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , neural stem cell , neural cell , cell type , zebrafish , transgene , neuroscience , genetically modified mouse , spinal cord , embryo , genetics , gene , stem cell , cell , transcription factor
Sensory input to the mammalian nervous system is mediated by neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) that flank the spinal cord. During embryonic development, these neurons arise from neural crest cells that differentiate to form both neurons and glia in the DRG. To form a particular cell type, the crest cells first commit to a glial or neural lineage (neural fate determination) and then committed progenitors further differentiate into specific subtypes of cells (subtype specification). To learn more about the genetic regulation of neural fate determination, we are investigating the role of neurogenin1 ( ngn1 ). Ngn1 is expressed in crest cells and one sub‐type of DRG neuron is missing in ngn1 knockouts. This shows that ngn1 is required for neural development in the DRG but does not define its role in neural fate determination or subtype specification. If ngn1 is involved in neural fate determination, it should be expressed in the last common progenitor cell to the neural and glial lineages. To test whether ngn1 is expressed in the last common progenitor, we are attempting to genetically label these cells in early development and then detect neural and glial cells derived from them at a later time. We used an inducible cre‐loxP approach to genetically label the cells which relies on crossing mice expressing a tamoxifen‐inducible creER transgene from ngn1 promoter elements to a reporter strain containing a Rosa26 lacZ gene that is inactivated by a floxed stop signal. We have successfully labeled ngn1 ‐expressing progenitors in the DRG at E11.5 and have detected neural cells derived from these progenitors at E16.5. We are currently trying to detect cells that express the reporter and glial markers at E16.5 and P21. Supported by grants from NCRR (P20RR016460) and NIGMS (P20 GM103429) at NIH, and an undergraduate research award from ASBMB.