Abstract
BackgroundThe inducible Cre-lox system is a valuable tool to study gene function in a spatial and time restricted fashion in mouse models. This strategy relies on the limited background activity of the modified Cre recombinase (CreER) in the absence of its inducer, the competitive estrogen receptor ligand, tamoxifen. The RIP-CreER mouse (Tg (Ins2-cre/Esr1) 1Dam) is among the few available β-cell specific CreER mouse lines and thus it has been often used to manipulate gene expression in the insulin-producing cells of the endocrine pancreas.Principal FindingsHere, we report the detection of tamoxifen-independent Cre activity as early as 2 months of age in RIP-CreER mice crossed with three distinct reporter strains.SignificanceEvidence of Cre-mediated recombination of floxed alleles even in the absence of tamoxifen administration should warrant cautious use of this mouse for the study of pancreatic β-cells.
Highlights
The inducible Cre-lox system has become an important tool for the conditional deletion or expression of genes of interest within a given cell type [1]
To study the function of ICA512-CCF in vivo, we generated the R26-Stop-HA3-ICA512-CCF knock-in mouse, in which three-HAtagged ICA512-CCF preceded by a floxed Stop cassette was introduced into the Rosa26 locus
Western blotting with an anti-HA antibody, revealed the expression of HA3-ICA512CCF in islets isolated from 3-month-old RIP-CreER, R26-StopHA3-ICA512-CCF mice regardless of tamoxifen treatment (Fig. 1B)
Summary
The inducible Cre-lox system has become an important tool for the conditional deletion or expression of genes of interest within a given cell type [1] For this reason it has been widely used for lineage tracing of cells during embryonic development and in adult mice [2]. The inducible Cre-lox system is a valuable tool to study gene function in a spatial and time restricted fashion in mouse models. This strategy relies on the limited background activity of the modified Cre recombinase (CreER) in the absence of its inducer, the competitive estrogen receptor ligand, tamoxifen. The RIP-CreER mouse (Tg (Ins2-cre/Esr1) 1Dam) is among the few available b-cell specific CreER mouse lines and it has been often used to manipulate gene expression in the insulin-producing cells of the endocrine pancreas
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