Comparative analysis of Delta-like 1 regulatory elements during brain development using transgenic mice

LÓPEZ-LEAL RODRIGO; RUBINSTEIN MARCELO; FRANCHINI LUCÍA F.

Congreso; XXVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencia; 2011

SAN

The gene Delta-like 1 (Dll1) has been implicated in the proliferation/differentiation switch of neural precursors during brain development. Dll1 encodes a ligand of Notch1 that inhibits neuronal precursors differentiation allowing them to proliferate increasing the undifferentiated progenitor pool. The expression of Dll1 is thighly controlled during brain development but the regions and mechanisms controlling its expression are not completely known. Previous works have shown that a region located 4.3 kb upstream of Dll1 (4.3-Dll1) drives the expression of the reporter gene lacZ in a subdomain of the endogenous expression pattern. In additon, in our laboratory we have identified an additional region located at 5.9 kb of Dll1 (5.9-Dll1) that controls the expression of a reporter gene in an overlapping manner to the endogenous gene pattern. Using transgenic mice expressing fluorescent proteins under the control of 4.3-Dll1 and/or 5.9-Dll1 we have performed a detailed temporo-spatial study of coexpression and colocalization during mouse development in order to identify the unique properties of each regulatory region. Our data brings new information into the understanding of the regulation of Dll1 expression during brain development.   Acknowledgements: DID-UACH D-2010-7 and CONICYT to RRL; ANPCyT and CONICET to LFF; HHMI to MR.