Cre Recombinase Driver Mice Reveal Lineage-Dependent and -Independent Expression of Brs3 in the Mouse Brain

Bombesin receptor subtype-3 (BRS3) is an orphan receptor that regulates energy homeostasis. We compared driver mice with constitutive or inducible Cre recombinase activity. The constitutive BRS3-Cre mice show a reporter signal (Cre-dependent tdTomato) in the adult brain because of lineage tracing in the dentate gyrus, striatal patches, and indusium griseum, in addition to sites previously identified in the inducible BRS3-Cre mice (including hypothalamic and amygdala subregions, and parabrachial nucleus). We detected reporter expression in the dentate gyrus at day 23 but not at postnatal day 1 or 5 months of age. Hypothalamic sites expressed reporter at all three time points, and striatal patches expressed reporter at 1 day but not 5 months. Parabrachial nucleus neurons project to the preoptic area, hypothalamus, amygdala, and thalamus. Both Cre recombinase insertions reduced mRNA levels and BRS3 function, causing obesity phenotypes of different severity. These results demonstrate that driver mice should be characterized phenotypically and illustrate the need for knock-in strategies with less effect on the endogenous gene.