Table 1.

Previously reported Cre strains used for targeting the tendon-bone enthesis in mice.

Cre	Enthesis prevalence	Inducible	Overlapping expression with other tissues	References
Constitutive Cre strains
Scx-Cre	High	No	Yes; tendon, ligament, periosteum, trabecular bone, kidney, lung, brain, endothelial cells	(23,27,30,47,49–54)
Prrx1-Cre	High, for appendicular skeleton	No	Yes; all lateral plate mesoderm-derived tissues	(7,24,29,55,56)
Wnt1-Cre	High, for neural crest cells only	No	Yes; midbrain, dorsal spinal cord	(57)
Gdf5-Cre	High, for intra-articular attachments	No	Yes; articular joint tissues including ligaments, cartilage, meniscus, tendons	(46)
Inducible Cre strains
Gli1-CreERT	High	Yes, tamoxifen (postnatal)	Yes; broad expression in other tissues during embryogenesis, including growth plate, mesothelium, kidney, neural stem cells, alveoli, hair follicles, heart, and vascular smooth muscle cells.	(30,31)
Sox9-CreERT	High, for stationary attachments	Yes, tamoxifen (embryonic)	Yes; cartilage/tendon as well as brain, lung, heart, pancreas and kidney. Sox9+ cells labeled during embryonic development are replaced by Gli1+ cells.	(24,31,58)
Gdf5-CreER	Moderate to low	Yes, tamoxifen (embryonic; E11.5–12.5)	Yes; proximal chondrocytes, ligaments	(59)
Col2-CreERT	Low or none	Yes, tamoxifen (early postnatal; <P14)	Yes; secondary ossification center, articular cartilage	(30)
Scx-CreERT2	Low or none	Yes, tamoxifen	Does not label embryonic tendons or the postnatal enthesis	(60–62)
Cre strains (potential for enthesis targeting)
Prrx1-CreERT2	Not reported	Yes, tamoxifen	Yes; periosteum	(63)
Fgf18-CreERT2	Not reported	Yes, tamoxifen	Yes; lung, limb bud, palate, skeleton, central nervous system, and hair follicle	(64)
Col1a1-CreER	Not reported	Yes, tamoxifen	Yes; osteoblasts, odontoblasts, some tendons	(65)
Postn-Cre	Not reported but likely	No	Yes; myofibroblasts, tendon	(66,67)