PUBLICATION

Validating in utero electroporation for the rapid analysis of gene regulatory elements in the murine telencephalon

Authors
Langevin, L.M., Mattar, P., Scardigli, R., Roussigne, M., Logan, C., Blader, P., and Schuurmans, C.
ID
ZDB-PUB-070330-35
Date
2007
Source
Developmental Dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists   236(5): 1273-1286 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Blader, Patrick
Keywords
ER81, Ngn2, in utero electroporation, birth-dating, transcriptional regulatory elements, telencephalon, pallium, neocortex, piriform cortex, evolution
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors/genetics
  • Cell Movement
  • DNA Primers/genetics
  • Electroporation/methods*
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Genes, Regulator*
  • Genes, Reporter
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
  • Lac Operon
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Neocortex/cytology
  • Neocortex/embryology
  • Neocortex/growth & development
  • Neocortex/metabolism
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics
  • Pregnancy
  • Recombinant Proteins/genetics
  • Species Specificity
  • Telencephalon/cytology
  • Telencephalon/embryology*
  • Telencephalon/growth & development
  • Telencephalon/metabolism
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
17377980 Full text @ Dev. Dyn.
Abstract
With the ultimate goal of understanding how genetic modules have evolved in the telencephalon, we set out to modernize the functional analysis of cross-species cis-regulatory elements in mouse. In utero electroporation is rapidly replacing transgenesis as the method of choice for gain- and loss-of-function studies in the murine telencephalon, but the application of this technique to the analysis of transcriptional regulation has yet to be fully explored and exploited. To empirically define the developmental stages required to target specific populations of neurons in the dorsal telencephalon, or pallium, which gives rise to the neocortex in mouse, we performed a temporal and spatial analysis of the migratory properties of electroporated versus birth-dated cells. Next, we compared the activities of two known Ngn2 enhancers via transgenesis and in utero electroporation, demonstrating that the latter technique more faithfully reports the endogenous telencephalic expression pattern observed in an Ngn2lacZ knock-in line. Finally, we used this approach to test the telencephalic activities of a series of deletion constructs comprised of the zebrafish ER81 upstream regulatory region, allowing us to identify a previously uncharacterized enhancer that displays cross-species activity in the murine piriform cortex and lateral neocortex, yet not in more medial domains of the forebrain. Taken together, our data supports the contention that in utero technology can be exploited to rapidly examine the architecture and evolution of pallial-specific cis-regulatory elements.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping