NeuroGT: A brain atlas of neurogenic tagging CreER drivers for birthdate-based classification and manipulation of mouse neurons

Abstract

Summary: Neuronal birthdate is one of the major determinants of neuronal phenotypes. However, most birthdating methods are retrospective in nature, allowing very little experimental access to the classified neuronal subsets. Here, we introduce four neurogenic tagging mouse lines, which can assign CreER-loxP recombination to neuron subsets that share the same differentiation timing in living animals and enable various experimental manipulations of the classified subsets. We constructed a brain atlas of the neurogenic tagging mouse lines (NeuroGT), which includes holistic image data of the loxP-recombined neurons and their processes across the entire brain that were tagged on each single day during the neurodevelopmental period. This image database, which is open to the public, offers investigators the opportunity to find specific neurogenic tagging driver lines and the stages of tagging appropriate for their own research purposes. Motivation: Neuronal birthdates are commonly used to classify neurons. However, the current nucleotide-based birthdating method is retrospective in nature and does not allow the manipulation of classified neurons. To overcome this limitation, we developed neurogenic tagging mouse lines that can induce CreER-loxP recombination in neurons with similar birthdates, and the recombination tag can be subsequently used for experimental manipulation of the classified neuron subsets. To encourage the use of this resource, we launched the NeuroGT database, which contains image data of the tagged neurons across the entire brain.

Keywords

• neurogenic tagging
• transgenic mouse
• CreER-loxP system
• NeuroGT
• neuronal birthdate