Generating in vivo somatic mouse mosaics with locus-specific, stably-integrated transgenic elements

Viral vectors and electroporation (EP)-mediated gene transfers are efficient means of inducing somatic mosaicism in mice, but they lack the exquisite control over transgene copy number, gene zygosity, and genomic-locus specificity that genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) provide. Here, we develop and demonstrate a simple and generalizable in vivo method, mosaic analysis by dual recombinase-mediated cassette ex-change (MADR). MADR allows for stable labeling of mutant cells express transgenic elements from a precisely-defined chromosomal locus. To test our method, we generated reporter-labeled lineages from stem and progenitor cells in a well-defined Rosa26mTmG mouse. We demonstrate the power and versatility MADR by creating novel glioma models with mixed, reporter-defined zygosity or with personalized driver mutations from pediatric glioma-with each manipulation altering the profile of resulting tumors. Thus, MADR provides a high-throughput genetic platform for the dissection of development and disease, and this rapid method can be ap-plied to the thousands of existing gene-trap mice.