Advantages
- Tissue specific Foxc2 expression with integrated tdTomato fluorescent reporter enables precise spatiotemporal visualization
- Enables monitoring of lymphatic valve development
- 1:1 co-expression of Foxc2 and tdTomato, overcoming expression variability characteristic associated with of IRES-based or viral delivery systems
- Single-vector design with strong ubiquitous promoter streamlines colony management, eliminating the need for separate crosses with reporter strains, and delivering higher, uniform expression across all tissues
Summary
The transcription factor Foxc2 is critical for lymphatic endothelial differentiation and valve formation, however researchers lack a modular gain-of-function system with precise spatiotemporal control and tracking of overexpressing cells.
Our researchers developed a new mouse model that enables tissue-specific and Cre-dependent overexpression of the transcription factor gene, Foxc2, and the red fluorescent protein, tdTomato. The mouse was engineered using a loxP-polyA-loxP stop cassette upstream of a bicistronic Foxc2-P2A-tdTomato sequence driven by a ubiquitous promoter. Cre-mediated activation co-expresses Foxc2 and red fluorescent tdTomato at a strict 1:1 molar ratio enabled by the P2A self-cleaving peptide. This system enables precise real-time quantitative readouts and control of recombination efficiency, and streamlined, high-fidelity workflows that facilitate in vivo studies of lymphatic valve development, targeted genetic rescue experiments, and therapeutic screening.
Desired Partnership