(A) Immunofluorescent image of corneal epithelium from a 1 month-old Abcb5/Cre/tdTomato mouse (whole-mount cornea). Abcb5/Cre transgenic mice were generated by insertion of an IRES-Cre cassette in the Abcb5 3’UTR downstream of the STOP codon located in exon 30. Abcb5/Cre mice were crossed with tdTomato (B6;129S6-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm9(CAG-tdTomato)Hze/J) mice for genetic lineage tracing studies.
Whole-mount cornea preparations from Abcb5/Cre/tdTomato mice identified tdTomato-positive Abcb5-derived progeny cells within the entire adult mouse corneal epithelium. (B) Immunofluorescent (×60 magnification) images of tdTomato (red), Abcb5 (yellow) and Ki67 (green) co-expression in the limbus of Abcb5/Cre/tdTomato mice. The nuclei are stained with Dapi, 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (blue).