BEAM: A combinatorial recombinase toolbox for binary gene expression and mosaic genetic analysis

We describe a binary expression aleatory mosaic (BEAM) system, which relies on DNA delivery by transfection or viral transduction along with nested recombinase activity to generate two genetically distinct, non-overlapping populations of cells for comparative analysis. Control cells labeled with red fluorescent protein (RFP) can be directly compared with experimental cells manipulated by genetic gain or loss of function and labeled with GFP. Importantly, BEAM incorporates recombinase-dependent signal amplification and delayed reporter expression to enable sharper delineation of control and experimental cells and to improve reliability relative to existing methods. We applied BEAM to a variety of known phenotypes to illustrate its advantages for identifying temporally or spatially aberrant phenotypes, for revealing changes in cell proliferation or death, and for controlling for procedural variability. In addition, we used BEAM to test the cortical protomap hypothesis at the individual radial unit level, revealing that area identity is cell autonomously specified in adjacent radial units.