AAV with EF1a promoter driven Cre Inducible VChR1-ECFP

This AAV expresses DIO-VChR1-ECFP driven by an ubiquitous EF1a promoter.

The 1.2 Kb EF1α promoter is a commonly used, constitutive promoter derived from human elongation factor-1 alpha (EF1α). It is often used in conditions where the other constitutive promoters, such as CMV, have diminished activity or have been silenced.

Volvox channelrhodopsin-1 (VChR1) is from the multicellular green alga Volvox carteri. VChR1 has a similar functionality as hChR2 but with a different excitation spectrum towards green light, and shows action potential firing with 589 nm light.

In the DIO scenario, the transgene of interest is inserted in reverse orientation relative to the 5′ promoter and is flanked by oppositely oriented loxP and lox2272 sites. In the absence of Cre expression, the transgene will not be produced. In the presence of Cre expression, the transgene will be “FLip-EXchanged” or FLEXed, leading to expression of the transgene. This is due to a permanent Cre-mediated recombination/inversion of the flanked transgene. This arrangement is called DIO (double-floxed inverse ORF), Cre-ON, Flex-rev (reverse), Flex-ON/FlexON, or DIO-AAV/AAV-DIO (double-floxed inverse ORF in AAV).