The Cst-T2A-Cre allele (also called Cort-T2A-Cre or Cst-2A-Cre) harbors a a T2A oligopeptide that mediates ribosomal skipping (foot-and-mouth disease virus 2A from the insect Thosea asigna virus) and Cre recombinase in the 3' UTR of the cortistatin locus (Cort). As such, cre expression is directed by the endogenous Cort promoter/enhancer elements. When Cst-T2A-Cre mice are bred with mice containing loxP-flanked sequences, Cre-mediated recombination will result in deletion of the floxed sequences in the Cort-expressing cells (CST positive neurons) of the offspring. Cort expression from the Cst-T2A-Cre allele has not been evaluated. Additional phenotype information described below.
In 2010, the donating investigator reported Cre recombinase activity is specific and efficient (largely recapitulates the endogenous Cort expression pattern with highly efficient recombination). They report Cre recombinase activity is observed in some GABAergic interneurons, and did not examine cre expression in the intestine or tissues other than brain. Cort expression from the Cst-T2A-Cre allele was not evaluated. They also reported that homozygous mice are viable, fertile, normal in size and do not display any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities.
For characterization information, see images at the Allen Institute for Brain Science website (Cort-T2A-Cre images).
If the recombinase activity pattern of this allele is further characterized by the Genetic Resource Science group at The Jackson Laboratory, such findings will be reported on the Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) Allele Detail entry (Corttm1(cre)Zjh). This same information would also be found searching the MGI Recombinase Activity database.
