Improving cell-specific recombination using AAV vectors in the murine CNS by capsid and expression cassette optimization

Autor: Hayato Kawabata, Ayumu Konno, Yasunori Matsuzaki, Yumika Sato, Mika Kawachi, Ryo Aoki, Saki Tsutsumi, Shota Togai, Ryosuke Kobayashi, Takuro Horii, Izuho Hatada, Hirokazu Hirai
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development, Vol 32, Iss 1, Pp 101185- (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2329-0501
DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2024.101185
Popis: The production of cell-type– and age-specific genetically modified mice is a powerful approach for unraveling unknown gene functions. Here, we present a simple and timesaving method that enables adeno-associated virus (AAV)–mediated cell-type– and age-specific recombination in floxed mice. To achieve astrocyte-specific recombination in floxed Ai14 reporter mice, we intravenously injected blood-brain barrier–penetrating AAV-PHP.eB vectors expressing Cre recombinase (Cre) using the astrocyte-specific mouse glial fibrillary acidic protein (mGfaABC1D) promoter. However, we observed nonspecific neuron-predominant transduction despite the use of an astrocyte-specific promoter. We speculated that subtle but continuous Cre expression in nonastrocytic cells triggers recombination, and that excess production of Cre in astrocytes inhibits recombination by forming Cre-DNA aggregates. Here, we resolved this paradoxical event by dividing a single AAV into two mGfaABC1D-promoter-driven AAV vectors, one expressing codon-optimized flippase (FlpO) and another expressing flippase recognition target–flanked rapidly degrading Cre (dCre), together with switching the neuron-tropic PHP.eB capsid to astrocyte-tropic AAV-F. Moreover, we found that the FlpO-dCre system with a target cell-tropic capsid can also function in neuron-targeting recombination in floxed mice.
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