Monitoring cellular movement in vivo with photoconvertible fluorescence protein “Kaede” transgenic mice

doi:10.1073/pnas.0802278105

Monitoring cellular movement in vivo with photoconvertible fluorescence protein “Kaede” transgenic mice

*Laboratory for Autoimmune Regulation, Research Center for Allergy and Immunology, RIKEN, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi, Yokohama City, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan;
^†Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan;
^‡PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 5-Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan; and
^§Laboratory for Cell Function and Dynamics, Advanced Technology Development Center, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako City, Saitama 351-0198, Japan

Edited by Philippa Marrack, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, CO, and approved May 21, 2008 (received for review March 6, 2008)

Abstract

Kaede is a photoconvertible fluorescence protein that changes from green to red upon exposure to violet light. The photoconversion of intracellular Kaede has no effect on cellular function. Using transgenic mice expressing the Kaede protein, we demonstrated that movement of cells with the photoconverted Kaede protein could be monitored from lymphoid organs to other tissues as well as from skin to the draining lymph node. Analysis of the kinetics of cellular movement revealed that each subset of cells in the lymph node, such as CD4⁺ T, CD8⁺ T, B, and dendritic cells, has a distinct migration pattern in vivo. Thus, the Kaede transgenic mouse system would be an ideal tool to monitor precise cellular movement in vivo at different stages of immune response to pathogens as well as in autoimmune diseases.

Footnotes

^¶To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kanagawa{at}rcai.riken.jp
Author contributions: M.T., Y.M., and O.K. designed research; M.T., N.Y., and Y.M. performed research; M.T., N.Y., J.T., S.K., Y.M., A.M., and O.K. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; M.T., Y.M., and O.K. analyzed data; and M.T. and O.K. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0802278105/DCSupplemental.