PUBLICATION

Generation and characterization of transgenic zebrafish lines using different ubiquitous promoters

Authors
Burket, C.T., Montgomery, J.E., Thummel, R., Kassen, S.C., Lafave, M.C., Langenau, D.M., Zon, L.I., and Hyde, D.R.
ID
ZDB-PUB-071118-11
Date
2008
Source
Transgenic Research   17(2): 265-279 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Burket, Christopher, Hyde, David R., Kassen, Sean, Langenau, David, Montgomery, Jacob, Thummel, Ryan, Zon, Leonard I.
Keywords
Zebrafish, Central nervous system, Ubiquitous, Promoter, Tol2, Adult expression pattern
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics*
  • Animals, Genetically Modified/growth & development
  • Blotting, Southern
  • Blotting, Western
  • DNA Primers
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins/metabolism
  • Histones/genetics
  • Neurons/cytology
  • Neurons/metabolism
  • Peptide Elongation Factor 1/genetics
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics*
  • RNA
  • RNA, Messenger/genetics
  • RNA, Messenger/metabolism
  • Retina/cytology
  • Retina/metabolism
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Transgenes/physiology*
  • Transposases/genetics
  • Xenopus laevis/metabolism
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/growth & development
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
17968670 Full text @ Transgenic. Res.
Abstract
Two commonly used promoters to ubiquitously express transgenes in zebrafish are the Xenopus laevis elongation factor 1 alpha promoter (XlEef1a1) and the zebrafish histone variant H2A.F/Z (h2afv) promoter. Recently, transgenes utilizing these promoters were shown to be silenced in certain adult tissues, particularly the central nervous system. To overcome this limitation, we cloned the promoters of four zebrafish genes that likely are transcribed ubiquitously throughout development and into the adult. These four genes are the TATA box binding protein gene, the taube nuss-like gene, the eukaryotic elongation factor 1-gamma gene, and the beta-actin-1 gene. We PCR amplified approximately 2.5 kb upstream of the putative translational start site of each gene and cloned each into a Tol2 expression vector that contains the EGFP reporter transgene. We used these four Tol2 vectors to independently generate stable transgenic fish lines for analysis of transgene expression during development and in the adult. We demonstrated that all four promoters drive a very broad pattern of EGFP expression throughout development and the adult. Using the retina as a well-characterized component of the CNS, all four promoters appeared to drive EGFP expression in all neuronal and non-neuronal cells of the adult retina. In contrast, the h2afv promoter failed to express EGFP in the adult retina. When we examined EGFP expression in the various cells of the blood cell lineage, we observed that all four promoters exhibited a more heterogenous expression pattern than either the XlEef1a1 or h2afv promoters. While these four ubiquitous promoters did not express EGFP in all the adult blood cells, they did express EGFP throughout the CNS and in broader expression patterns in the adult than either the XlEef1a1 or h2afv promoters. For these reasons, these four promoters will be valuable tools for expressing transgenes in adult zebrafish.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping