G2R Cre reporter transgenic zebrafish.

The Cre/loxP site-specific recombination system has been widely used to manipulate DNA in vivo and to study gene function in the mouse by inducible transgenic and conditional gene targeting. To fully use this powerful genetic tool in a relatively new animal model, zebrafish, we generated reporter transgenic lines for easy detection of Cre recombinase activity in vivo. The transgenic fish lines, designated G2R, express two fluorescent protein genes, GFP and RFP, under the control of the ubiquitous promoter of the Xenopus EF1 alpha gene. The G2R animals change their color from green to red (G2R) after Cre-mediated recombination and are useful for development of cell type specific Cre transgenic lines and for cell lineage and fate mapping studies in zebrafish.