Cre Driver Network


 

The goal of the Cre Driver Network is to provide the neuroscience community with mouse strains that are suitable for tissue- and time-specific perturbation of gene function in the nervous system.  Using a knockout mutation to eliminate a gene’s function is a useful way to study the gene’s role in development, but it can lead to lethal or otherwise harmful effects that preclude studying the gene’s role in later stages of the mouse lifespan.  This project supports the generation of mice in which the expression of Cre recombinase, a DNA exchange enzyme, can be controlled temporally and spatially.  These Cre “driver” lines can be used to generate conditional mutations that are activated in distinct cell types, tissues or time points, or inducible mutations that are activated through administration of a drug. 

More than 45 Credriver lines have now been created and characterized, targeting selected neuronal populations in the brain.  Data and images detailing the Crerecombinase expression profile for each line are available at www.credrivermice.org.  Mice will be available through the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Center (MMRRC) at the University of Missouri (www.mmrrc.org/catalog/StrainCatalogSearchForm.jsp) or through The Jackson Laboratory’s Cre Repository (http://jaxmice.jax.org/research/cre/index.html) for a nominal fee.

The Cre Driver Network is funded by the Institutes and Centers that comprise the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.