Brockschnieder D, Lappe-Siefke C, Goebbels S, Boesl MR, Nave KA, Riethmacher D. Cell depletion due to diphtheria toxin fragment A after Cre-mediated recombination.
Mol Cell Biol 2004;
24:7636-42. [PMID:
15314171 PMCID:
PMC506983 DOI:
10.1128/mcb.24.17.7636-7642.2004]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Abnormal cell loss is the common cause of a large number of developmental and degenerative diseases. To model such diseases in transgenic animals, we have developed a line of mice that allows the efficient depletion of virtually any cell type in vivo following somatic Cre-mediated gene recombination. By introducing the diphtheria toxin fragment A (DT-A) gene as a conditional expression construct (floxed lacZ-DT-A) into the ubiquitously expressed ROSA26 locus, we produced a line of mice that would permit cell-specific activation of the toxin gene. Following Cre-mediated recombination under the control of cell-type-specific promoters, lacZ gene expression was efficiently replaced by de novo transcription of the Cre-recombined DT-A gene. We provide proof of this principle, initially for cells of the central nervous system (pyramidal neurons and oligodendrocytes), the immune system (B cells), and liver tissue (hepatocytes), that the conditional expression of DT-A is functional in vivo, resulting in the generation of novel degenerative disease models.
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