Generation of Vgll4-DreER transgenic mouse for visualizing and manipulating VGLL4-expressing cells in vivo.

Yazhu Zhong, Xixi Tan, Xiaodong Wang, Jun Jiang, Kai Song, Haiyuan Chen, Hao Zhang, Zuoyun Wang, Lei Zhang, Chunming Guo, Hongfeng Liang, Wei Yu

Journal of biochemical and molecular toxicology 2023 Oct

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Vestigial like family member 4 (VGLL4), a member of the Hippo pathway, is a transcriptional cofactor involved in many biological processes, such as tumor progression, postnatal heart growth, and muscle regeneration. However, the VGLL4 expression pattern in vivo remains unclear. To detect and trace Vgll4-expressing cells and their progeny, we generated and characterized a new tamoxifen-inducible Dre knock-in mouse line, Vgll4-DreER. This mouse line expressed DreER (Dre recombinase fused to the estrogen receptor) under the control of the endogenous Vgll4 promoter. After crossing the Vgll4-DreER mouse line with the Dre-responsive reporter H11-rRFP, Dre-mediated recombination in the tissue was monitored on the basis of red fluorescent protein (RFP) signals, which indicated the distribution of VGLL4-positive cells in vivo. Our data revealed that VGLL4 is widely expressed in various cell types at embryonic and neonatal stages. After comparison with our previously reported Vgll4-GFP mouse, we found that the RFP signal profile was wider than the green fluorescent protein (GFP) pattern, indicating that Vgll4-DreER is more sensitive for labeling VGLL4-expressing cells. We next used a dual-recombination system to simultaneously label VGLL4- and keratin 5 (KRT5)-positive cell populations, and no crosstalk was observed in the Krt5-CreER;Vgll4-DreER;R26-rGlR mice. Taken together, the Vgll4-DreER mouse line is a valuable new tool for examining the precise VGLL4 expression profile and conditional manipulating of VGLL4-expressing cells and their progeny. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Citation

Yazhu Zhong, Xixi Tan, Xiaodong Wang, Jun Jiang, Kai Song, Haiyuan Chen, Hao Zhang, Zuoyun Wang, Lei Zhang, Chunming Guo, Hongfeng Liang, Wei Yu. Generation of Vgll4-DreER transgenic mouse for visualizing and manipulating VGLL4-expressing cells in vivo. Journal of biochemical and molecular toxicology. 2023 Oct;37(10):e23435