AAV with ELA1 promoter driven Cre Inducible mCherry

This AAV expresses DIO-mCherry driven by a pancreatic acinar ELA1 promoter.

Rat elastase 1 (Ela1; ELAI1; RATELAI1), also called chymotrypsin-like elastase family, member 1, is the major protease with elastin-degrading activity in the mammalian exocrine pancreas. The ELA1 promoter (0.3Kb) is comprised of the core promoter and enhancer, and directs transgene expression in pancreatic acinar cells, stomach, duodenum, and colon.

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).