mpeg1 promoter transgenes direct macrophage-lineage expression in zebrafish

Macrophages and neutrophils play important roles during the innate immune response, phagocytosing invading microbes and delivering antimicrobial compounds to the site of injury. Functional analyses of the cellular innate immune response in zebrafish infection/inflammation models have been aided by transgenic lines with fluorophore-marked neutrophils. However, it has not been possible to study macrophage behaviors and neutrophil/macrophage interactions in vivo directly because there has been no macrophage-only reporter line. To remove this roadblock, a macrophage-specific marker was identified (mpeg1) and its promoter used in mpeg1-driven transgenes. mpeg1-driven transgenes are expressed in macrophage-lineage…