Summary
Prodrug dependent cell ablation is a method that allows inducible and spatially restricted cell destruction. We describe transgenic methods to express the Escherichia coli nfsB in a tissue restricted manner in the zebrafish. This bacterial gene encodes a nitroreductase (NTR) enzyme that can render prodrugs such as metronidazole (Met) cytotoxic. Using the expression of NTR fused to a fluorescent protein, one can simultaneously make cells susceptible to prodrug treatment and visualize cell ablation as it occurs.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge Steve Leach for critical reading of the manuscript and Matthew Knabel for expert technical support. HP was supported by NIH NCRR T32 Grant 07002. MJP is supported in part by funding from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
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Pisharath, H., Parsons, M.J. (2009). Nitroreductase-Mediated Cell Ablation in Transgenic Zebrafish Embryos. In: Lieschke, G., Oates, A., Kawakami, K. (eds) Zebrafish. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 546. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-977-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-977-2_9
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