A Tie2-driven BAC-TRAP transgenic line for in vivo endothelial gene profiling

Recent technological innovations including bacterial artificial chromosome-based translating ribosome affinity purification (BAC-TRAP) have greatly facilitated analysis of cell type-specific gene expression in vivo, especially in the nervous system. To better study endothelial gene expression in vivo, we have generated a BAC-TRAP transgenic mouse line where the L10a ribosomal subunit is tagged with EGFP and placed under the control of the endothelium-specific Tie2 (Tek) promoter. We show that transgene expression in this line is widely, but specifically, detected in endothelial cells in several brain regions throughout pre- and postnatal development, as well as in other organs. We also show that this line results in highly significant enrichment of endothelium-specific mRNAs from brain tissues at different stages. This BAC-TRAP line therefore provides a useful genetic tool for in vivo endothelial gene profiling under various developmental, physiological, and pathological conditions. genesis 54:136-145, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.