Generation and analysis of an improved Foxg1-IRES-Cre driver mouse line.

Daichi Kawaguchi, Setsuko Sahara, Andreas Zembrzycki, Dennis D M O'Leary

Developmental biology 2016 Apr 1

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Foxg1 expression is highly restricted to the telencephalon and other head structures in the early embryo. This expression pattern has been exploited to generate conditional knockout mice, based on a widely used Foxg1-Cre knock-in line (Foxg1(tm1(cre)Skm)), in which the Foxg1 coding region was replaced by the Cre gene. The utility of this line, however, is severely hampered for two reasons: (1) Foxg1-Cre mice display ectopic and unpredictable Cre activity, and (2) Foxg1 haploinsufficiency can produce neurodevelopmental phenotypes. To overcome these issues, we have generated a new Foxg1-IRES-Cre knock-in mouse line, in which an IRES-Cre cassette was inserted in the 3'UTR of Foxg1 locus, thus preserving the endogenous Foxg1 coding region and un-translated gene regulatory sequences in the 3'UTR, including recently discovered microRNA target sites. We further demonstrate that the new Foxg1-IRES-Cre line displays consistent Cre activity patterns that recapitulated the endogenous Foxg1 expression at embryonic and postnatal stages without causing defects in cortical development. We conclude that the new Foxg1-IRES-Cre mouse line is a unique and advanced tool for studying genes involved in the development of the telencephalon and other Foxg1-expressing regions starting from early embryonic stages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Daichi Kawaguchi, Setsuko Sahara, Andreas Zembrzycki, Dennis D M O'Leary. Generation and analysis of an improved Foxg1-IRES-Cre driver mouse line. Developmental biology. 2016 Apr 1;412(1):139-47