Tg(Adipoq-cre)1Evdr

To generate the Adipoq-Cre BAC transgenic mice, the 245 kb RP23-90G21 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing at least five mouse genes was modified by replacing the starting ATG and 222 bp of the adiponectin gene with the starting ATG and coding sequence of a Cre recombinase gene. Founder line 1 was analyzed. These mice express Cre recombinase effectively in white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), but not in macrophages (including adipose-tissue resident macrophages, alveolar macrophages, or thioglycollate-stimulated peritoneal macrophages). The investigator reports highly efficient Cre recombinase activity, with no ectopic expression. The transgene integrated on chromosome 9 between exons 6 and 7 of the Tbx18 locus, an embryonic development gene also associated with myocardial function. No genomic rearrangements were detected in the region of the integration site, although the insertion leads to reduced Tbx18 expression in hemizygous epididymal white adipose tissue. While the targeted locus amplification mapping predicted transgene-transgene fusions had occurred between different parts of the transgene, their ddPCR analysis identified the number of copies of intact Cre recombinase as one per genome. (J:168971, J:305903)