Generation and Application of Endogenously Floxed Alleles for Cell-Specific Knockout in Zebrafish

Author Type(s)

Student

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-20-2023

DOI

10.1016/j.devcel.2023.07.022

Journal Title

Developmental Cell

Keywords

Mice, Animals, Mice, Knockout, Zebrafish, Alleles, Integrases, Gene Knockout Techniques

Abstract

The zebrafish is amenable to a variety of genetic approaches. However, lack of conditional deletion alleles limits stage- or cell-specific gene knockout. Here, we applied an existing protocol to establish a floxed allele for gata2a but failed to do so due to off-target integration and incomplete knockin. To address these problems, we applied simultaneous co-targeting with Cas12a to insert loxP sites in cis, together with transgenic counterscreening and comprehensive molecular analysis, to identify off-target insertions and confirm targeted knockins. We subsequently used our approach to establish endogenously floxed alleles of foxc1a, rasa1a, and ruvbl1, each in a single generation. We demonstrate the utility of these alleles by verifying Cre-dependent deletion, which yielded expected phenotypes in each case. Finally, we used the floxed gata2a allele to demonstrate an endothelial autonomous requirement in lymphatic valve development. Together, our results provide a framework for routine generation and application of endogenously floxed alleles in zebrafish.

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