Cre‐mediated recombination in rhombic lip derivatives

Abstract

To study the development of the cerebellum, we generated a transgenic mouse line Tg(malpha6-cre)B1LFR that expresses CRE recombinase under the GABA(A) receptor alpha6 subunit promoter. In this line, recombination of an R26R reporter allele occurred postnatally in granule cells of the cerebellum and dorsal cochlear nucleus, as well as in a subset of precerebellar nuclei in the brainstem. All neurons in which recombination occurred originated during embryogenesis from the rhombic lip. This might be explained by a very early specification event at the rhombic lip that primes cells derived from this structure to express the transgene during neuronal maturation. As no recombination occurred in the inferior olive, it may be derived from a distinct subset of precursors at the rhombic lip. No recombination occurred in any of the interneurons in the cerebellum (stellate cells, basket cells, and Golgi cells), consistent with the hypothesis that they are not derived from the same embryonic tissue as the granule cells.

Genetic inducible fate mapping in mouse: Establishing genetic lineages and defining genetic neuroanatomy in the nervous system

“…2A,AЈ; Zervas et al, 2004). Of interest, a GABA(A) receptor ␣6-Cre transgene marks a similar set of cerebellar neurons and precerebellar neurons (Funfschilling and Reichardt, 2002) to those that are marked by Math1-CreER/-lacZ/-Cre. Taken together, these studies show that the LRL cells that contribute to the two different major input systems of the Cb in the Hb are derived from distinct genetic lineages and domains.…”

Cre/loxP-mediated inactivation of the bHLH transcription factor gene NeuroD/BETA2

“…PCR amplificates from loxPflanked, wildtype, and null alleles are 1,011 bp, 845 bp, and 710 bp in size, respectively. EIIa-Cre and Tg(ma6-Cre) B1LFR mice were genotyped as described (Lasko et al, 1996;Fünfschilling and Reichhardt, 2002). Cre-mediated recombination (as shown in Fig.…”

“…To demonstrate tissue-specific inactivation of the floxed NeuroD gene we bred NeuroD loxP/loxP and Neuro-D loxP/-mutant animals to Tg(ma6-Cre)B1LFR mice that express Cre recombinase under control of the GABA A receptor a6 subunit promoter (Fünfschilling and Reichhardt, 2002). In Tg(ma6-Cre)B1LFR mice, Cre expression starts postnatally in predominantly postmitotic and postmigratory granule cells of the cerebellum and dorsal cochlear nucleus, as well as in a subset of precerebellar nuclei of the brainstem.…”

Migratory routes and fates of cells transcribing the Wnt‐1 gene in the murine hindbrain

“…An extensive literature describes the rhombic lip origins and migrations of the hindbrain neural crest (e.g., Nichols, 1981Nichols, , 1987Tan and Morris-Kay, 1985;Trainor et al, 2002). The rhombic lip and the hindbrain cell populations that migrate from it have been examined using classic morphological stains (see Essick, 1912), experimental manipulation (Harkmark, 1954;Tan and LeDouarin, 1991), autoradiography (Miale and Sidman, 1961;Pierce, 1966Pierce, , 1967Pierce, , 1973Pierce, , 1975Altman and Bayer, 1987a-d), dye lineage tracing (Wingate and Hatten, 1999), viral cell lineage tracing (Lin et al, 2001), and conditional gene expression lineage tracing (Rodriguez and Dymecki, 2000;Fü nfschilling and Reichardt, 2002). In addition, some insights into the genetic regulation of the lip have been gathered Wingate, 2001).…”