Description
Tlx (nr2e1) is an orphan nuclear receptor that is highly expressed in proliferating neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult mouse forebrain. The goal was to identify Tlx-regulated genes in this specific cell population. Two populations of Tlx-positive neural stem cells were isolated from 2-month-old male mice based on a LacZ marker that was knocked into the Tlx locus. The first population, Tlx(f/Z;CreER), contains a floxed allele of Tlx (f), the LacZ marker (Z), and a CreER fusion transgene. Addition of tamoxifen (4OH-tamoxifen) into this NSC population leads to Cre-mediated deletion of the floxed allele of Tlx. The second NSC population, Tlx(f/Z), does not contain a CreER transgene; thus it does not respond to tamoxifen treatment and was used as a control.