Cre complementation with variable dimerizers for inducible expression in neurons

Cre complementation is a process of reconstitutionof the activity of DNA recombinase by noncovalentassociation of multiple segments of Crerecombinase, which are enzymatically inactive bythemselves. Cre complementation is potentiallyuseful in restriction of Cre activity in a specifi csubset of cells, with temporal regulation, by limitingoverlap in expression of Cre fragments. We analyzedthe effi ciency of Cre complementation usingthree different dimerizing modules in the contextof non-neuronal cells and found differential Crecomplementation effi ciency. We further tested theeffi ciency of Cre complementation in primary hippocampalneurons derived from transgenic miceharboring a reporter gene fl anked by loxP sitesand confi rmed differential activity of dimerizationmodules in Cre-dependent recombination of thetransgene. These results suggest possible applicationof dimerizer-based Cre complementation ininducible expression/inactivation of target genesin a specifi c subset of neurons in the complexenvironment of nervous tissue in vivo.