H11-Myh6-iCre Mice

 
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Catalog Number：I001038

Genetic Background：C57BL/6J

Reproduction： Cre+/+ x Cre+/+


Strain Description

Cardiac myosin is a hexamer composed of two heavy chain sub-units, two light chain sub-units, and two regulatory sub-units, and the protein encoded by myosin heavy chain 6 (MYH6, also known as alpha-MHC) is cardiac myosin alpha heavy chain sub-unit. This gene is located approximately 4 kb downstream of the gene encoding the beta heavy chain sub-unit of cardiac myosin, and mutations in this gene are associated with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and atrial septal defect.

This strain carries a mouse Myh6 gene promoter-driven Improved Cre (iCre) recombinase gene expression element insertion in the H11 safe harbor. When H11-Myh6-iCre mice are crossed with mice with floxed target genes, Cre recombinase-mediated sequence recombination between the loxP sites is induced in the cardiomyocytes of offspring. The homozygous and heterozygous H11-Myh6-iCre mice are viable and fertile.

Insertion of an iCre gene expression element driven by the mouse Myh6 endogenous promoter in the H11 Safe Harbor Locus.

a. Method

H11-Myh6-iCre mice were crossed with Rosa26-LSL-tdTomato mice to generate double heterozygous offspring. Cre-mediated recombination will result in the expression of tdTomato protein in the Cre-positive cells of the offspring. Tissues such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, skeletal muscle, uterus, and testes were collected from 6-week-old offspring mice and immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the distribution of tdTomato protein signals to determine the expression of Cre recombinase.

b. Genotype

Cre+: H11-Myh6-iCre[KI/+];Rosa26-LSL-tdTomato[CKI/+]
Cre-: Rosa26-LSL-tdTomato[CKI/CKI]

c. Result

1. Expression of Cre recombinase in cardiomyocytes

Figure 1. Immunofluorescence staining of heart tissue. In Cre+ mice, there is a large amount of red fluorescence from tdTomato protein in cardiomyocytes, indicating strong expression of Cre recombinase in this location. In the corresponding tissues of the control group (Cre-) mice, no expression of tdTomato red fluorescence was detected, indicating an absence of Cre recombinase expression.

2. Expression of Cre recombinase in the kidney, lung, and skeletal muscle

Figure 2. Immunofluorescence staining of kidney, lung, and skeletal muscle tissue. In Cre+ mice, there is a small amount of red fluorescence from tdTomato protein in the kidneys, lungs, and skeletal muscle, indicating some activity of Cre recombinase in these locations. In the corresponding tissues of the control group (Cre-) mice, no expression of red fluorescence was detected, indicating an absence of Cre recombinase expression.

3. Expression of Cre recombinase in the uterus and testis

Figure 3. Immunofluorescence staining of uterine and testicular tissue. In Cre+ mice, there is a very small amount of red fluorescence from tdTomato protein in the lamina propria cells of the uterus and mesenchymal cells of the testis, indicating the extremely low expression of Cre recombinase activity. In the corresponding tissues of the control group (Cre-) mice, no expression of tdTomato red fluorescence was detected, indicating an absence of Cre recombinase expression.

d.Summary

In the H11-Myh6-iCre mouse model, the expression of Cre recombinase is mainly located in the cardiomyocytes, with a small amount of Cre recombinase activity also present in some tissues of the kidneys, lungs, and skeletal muscle. In addition, a very small amount of Cre recombinase expression was detected in the uterus and testis. In summary, the expression pattern of Cre recombinase in this model is roughly similar to that of the endogenous Myh6 gene in mice and the model can be used as a cardiomyocyte-specific Cre mice.

The Cre recombinase gene in this strain was inserted at the H11 locus on mouse chromosome 11. Please avoid breeding with gene-edited mice that target the same chromosome as the Cre mice.