5.4 kb fragment of the mouse adiponectin (Adipoq) gene 5'-flanking region and first intron, driving transgene or Cre recombinase expression restricted to mature white and brown adipocytes. More adipocyte-selective than the aP2/FABP4 promoter, which is also active in adipose-tissue macrophages.
Length: 5411 bp
Strength: strong
Tissue: Mature white and brown adipocytes; unlike the aP2/FABP4 promoter, not active in adipose-tissue macrophages (Wang et al. 2010)
Expression: constitutive
Origin: Mouse Adipoq gene, 5.4 kb 5'-flanking region plus first-intron fragment
Characteristics
Comprises 4.9 kb of upstream sequence plus the first exon and flanking portions of the first intron of the mouse Adipoq gene; shorter 2 kb or 4.9 kb truncations give weaker or patchy adipose expression, while the full 5.4 kb fragment drives uniform expression across visceral and subcutaneous white and brown fat pads. Unlike the -5.4 kb aP2/FABP4 promoter, Cre recombinase driven by this fragment is undetectable in adipose-tissue macrophages, giving cleaner adipocyte-restricted recombination (Wang et al. 2010).
Applications: Drives Cre recombinase (Adipoq-Cre) for adipocyte-specific conditional gene knockouts in mouse models of obesity, insulin resistance, and lipid metabolism, including deletion of IRF4 to study fasting-induced adipocyte lipolysis (Eguchi et al. 2011); also used to drive adipocyte-restricted transgene overexpression.
Limitations: As a randomly integrated transgene rather than a knock-in at the endogenous Adipoq locus, expression level can vary between founder lines. Activity requires terminal adipocyte differentiation, so it does not target preadipocytes or non-adipose tissue, and it is not established for driving expression in macrophages or cardiac tissue the way the aP2/FABP4 promoter is.
