Tamoxifen-inducible Cre-mediated recombination in adipocytes

Abstract

To generate a mouse line which allows inducible, Cre/loxP-dependent recombination in adipocytes, we used RedE/RedT-mediated recombineering to insert the CreER(T)²-transgene, which encodes a fusion protein of Cre and a mutated tamoxifen-responsive estrogen receptor, into the start codon of the adipocyte-specific Adipoq gene. Adipoq encodes adiponectin, an adipokine specifically expressed in differentiated adipocytes. Tamoxifen treatment induced almost complete recombination in white adipose tissue of the AdipoqCreER(T)² mouse line (97%-99%), while no recombination was seen in vehicle-treated animals. Recombination in brown adipose tissue was about 15%, whereas other organs and tissues did not undergo recombination. In addition, mice expressing CreER(T)² in adipocytes did not show any alterations of metabolic functions like glucose tolerance, lipolysis, or energy expenditure compared to control mice. Therefore the AdipoqCreER(T)² mouse line will be a valuable tool for studying the consequences of a temporally controlled deletion of floxed genes in white adipose tissue.