Table 1.
Zebrafish transgenic lines used in neurodevelopment research. Common transgenic lines used to study neurogenesis, specifying the type of genetic construct used to generate the transgenic lines and the cells labeled.
| Line | Promoter | Features | Cells Tagged | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tg(alx:Kaede) | alx (human CHX10) | Kaede converts from green to red after UV radiation; cell tracking | In spinal cord: ipsilateral descending neurons, glutamatergic (V2a neurons) | [71] |
| Tg(alx:GFP) | GFP expression | |||
| Tg(atoh1a:EGFP) | atonal bHLH transcription factor 1a | GFP expression | Cerebellum (glutamatergic neurons) and tegmentum cells (cells connecting to the hypothalamus and optic tectum) | [72] |
| Tg(barhl2:GFP) | barh-like homeobox 2 promoter | GFP expression | Neurons at the dorso-lateral edge of the hindbrain and spinal cord | [73] |
| Tg(dbx1b:GFP) | developing brain homeobox 1b promoter | GFP expression | Early neuronal marker, expressed in a population of glutamatergic and glycinergic neurons in the hindbrain | [73,74] |
| Tg(dbx1b:loxP-DsRed-loxP-GFP) | Conditional system, depending on cre expression | |||
| Tg(dbx1b:Cre) | cre recombinase expression | |||
| Tg(eng1b:eng-GFP); Tg(hsp70:eng-GFP) | engrailed 1 | Expression of fusion eng-GFP protein, drived by endogenous (eng1b) or heat shock (hsp70) promoter | In spinal cord: ipsilateral gylcinergic interneurons (circumferencial ascending interneurons), V1 neurons | [75] |
| Tg(evx1:GFP) | even-skipped homeobox 1 | GFP expression | In spinal cord: commissural interneurons, ventral projections from the spinal cord | [76] |
| Tg(gad1b:RFP) | glutamic acid decarboxylase | RFP expression | GABAergic neurons | [74,77] |
| Tg(gad1b:loxP-DsRed-loxP-GFP) | Conditional system, depending on cre expression | |||
| Tg (gfap:GFP) | glial fibrillary acidic protein | GFP expression | Neural stem cells throughout the brain, retina, hindbrain, and spinal cord | [74,78] |
| Tg (gfap:dTomato) | dTomato expression | |||
| Tg(glyt2:GFP); Tg(glyt2:RFP) | glycine transporter-2 promoter | GFP or RFP expression | Glycinergic neurons | [74,77,79] |
| Tg(glyt2:loxP-DsRed-loxP-GFP) | Conditional system, depending on cre expression | |||
| Tg(vglut2a:GFP) | glutamate transporter promoter | GFP expression | Glutamatergic neurons | [37,74] |
| Tg(vglut2a:loxP-DsRed-loxP-GFP) | Conditional system, depending on cre expression | |||
| Tg(hb9:GFP) | motor neuron and pancreas homeobox 1 (mnx1), previously known as hb9 | GFP expression | In spinal cord: motor neurons and interneurons | [76] |
| Tg(HuC:CAM) | HuC (or elav3, ELAV like neuron-specific RNA binding protein 3) | cameleon expression (calcium indicator derivative from GFP) | Early neuronal marker; spinal cord: glycinergic interneurons | [74,75,80,81,82,83] |
| Tg(HuC:Ckaede) | Kaede converts from green to red after radiation with UV; cell tracking | |||
| Tg(HuC:GFP) Tg(HuC:RFP) | GFP or RFP expression | |||
| Tg(HuC:loxP-DsRed-loxP-GFP) | Conditional system, depending on cre expression | |||
| Tg(hox9a:Cre) | homeobox 9 | cre recombinase expression | Spinal cord neurons | [74] |
| Tg(isl1:GFP) | LIM/homeobox 1 | GFP expression | Ubiquitous motor neurons | [76,84] |
| Tg(lhx2a:GFP) | LIM Homeobox 2a | GFP expression | Olfactory bulb neurons | [14] |
| Tg(lhx2a:gap:YFP) | gap: membrane signal, YFP will be found in the cell membrane | |||
| Tg(NBT:GCaMP3) | neural beta-tubulin | GCaMP3: calcium reporter, allows live imaging of neuronal activity | Ubiquitous neuronal cells | [85] |
| Tg(nestin:GFP) | nestin | GFP expression | Ubiquitous neural stem cells | [86] |
| Tg(ngn1:GFP); Tg(neurog1:RFP) | neurogenin1 | GFP or RFP expression | In spinal cord: Rohon Beard and dorsal root ganglia neurons | [76,77] |
| Tg(olig2:EGFP) | oligodendrocyte lineage transcription factor 2 | GFP expression | Oligodendrocytes, spinal cord motor neurons, and cerebellum cells | [37,87] |
| Tg(ptf1a:EGFP) | pancreas associated transcription factor 1a | GFP expression | Purkinje cells and telencephalon’s ventricular zone | [72] |
| Tg(tub:CAM) | golfish neural tubulin | CAM: cameleon expression (calcium indicator derivative from GFP) | In spinal cord: ipsilateral glycinergic interneurons (circumferential ascending interneurons) | [75] |
| GFP/tRFP-ki | otx2 | knock-in of fluorescent tag | Retina, midbrain, MHB expression | [88] |
| venus/tRFP-ki | pax2a | knock-in of fluorescent tag | MHB and otic vesicle expression |
CAM: cameleon; GFP: green fluorescent protein; RFP: red fluorescent protein; UV: ultra violet; YFP: yellow fluorescent protein.