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Distel, M. ; Wullimann, M.F.* ; Köster, R.W.

Optimized Gal4 genetics for permanent gene expression mapping in zebrafish.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 13365-13370 (2009)
DOI PMC
Combinatorial genetics for conditional transgene activation allows studying gene function with temporal and tissue specific control like the Gal4-UAS system, which has enabled sophisticated genetic studies in Drosophila. Recently this system was adapted for zebrafish and promising applications have been introduced. Here, we report a systematic optimization of zebrafish Gal4-UAS genetics by establishing an optimized Gal4-activator (KalTA4). We provide quantitative data for KalTA4-mediated transgene activation in dependence of UAS copy numbers to allow for studying dosage effects of transgene expression. Employing a Tol2 transposon-mediated KalTA4 enhancer trap screen biased for central nervous system expression, we present a collection of self-reporting red fluorescent KalTA4 activator strains. These strains reliably transactivate UAS-dependent transgenes and can be rendered homozygous. Furthermore, we have characterized the transactivation kinetics of tissue-specific KalTA4 activation, which led to the development of a self-maintaining effector strain "Kaloop.'' This strain relates transient KalTA4 expression during embryogenesis via a KalTA4-mediated autoregulatory mechanism to live adult structures. We demonstrate its use by showing that the secondary octaval nucleus in the adult hindbrain is likely derived from egr2b-expressing cells in rhombomere 5 during stages of early embryogenesis. These data demonstrate prolonged and maintained expression by Kalooping, a technique that can be used for permanent spatiotemporal genetic fate mapping and targeted transgene expression in zebrafish.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords enhancer trap; fate mapping; Gal4-UAS; secondary octaval nucleus; lateral-line; rhombic-lip; hindbrain; embryos; system; transactivation; organization; reporter; protein
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0027-8424
e-ISSN 1091-6490
Quellenangaben Volume: 106, Issue: 32, Pages: 13365-13370 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher National Academy of Sciences
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed