The Journal of Neuroscience, December 1, 1999, 19(23):10318-10323
Cerebellar Granule Cell-Specific and Inducible Expression of Cre
Recombinase in the Mouse
Mika
Tsujita1,
Hisashi
Mori1,
Masahiko
Watanabe2,
Misao
Suzuki3,
Jun-ichi
Miyazaki4, and
Masayoshi
Mishina1, 5
1 Department of Molecular Neurobiology and
Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033,
Japan, 2 Department of Anatomy, Hokkaido University, School
of Medicine, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan, 3 Center for Animal
Resources and Development, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-0811,
Japan, 4 Department of Nutrition and Physiological
Chemistry, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka 565-0871, Japan, and
5 CREST, Japan Science and Technology Corporation,
Saitama 332-0012, Japan
To develop a cell type-specific and temporal regulation system of
gene targeting in the cerebellum, we used the NMDA-type glutamate
receptor GluR
3 subunit gene and Cre recombinase-progesterone receptor fusion (CrePR) gene in combination. Injection of the CrePR
gene placed under the control of the 10 kb 5' region of the GluR
3
gene into C57BL/6 eggs yielded the ECP25 line that strongly expressed
the CrePR mRNA selectively in the granule cells of the cerebellum.
Using a transgenic mouse carrying a reporter gene for Cre-mediated
recombination, we showed that antiprogestins could induce the
recombinase activity of CrePR protein in the cerebellar granule cells
of the ECP25 line. Thus, the established mouse line will provide a
valuable tool to investigate the mechanism of cerebellar function by
manipulating molecules in the temporally regulated and granule
cell-specific manner.
Key words:
Cre recombinase; antiprogestin; cerebellum; cerebellar
granule cell; gene targeting; NMDA receptor GluR
3 subunit; progesterone receptor; transgenic mouse
Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/99/192310318-06$05.00/0