The attP cassette in the Mi{MIC}VGlutMI04979 insertion (which is in a coding intron common to all splice forms of VGlut) has been replaced with a Trojan GAL4 cassette that contains a splice acceptor site followed by the T2A peptide, the Scer\GAL4 coding sequence and an Hsp70 transcription termination signal. The insertion is in the correct orientation to gene trap VGlut. The splice acceptor ensures that the T2A-Scer\GAL4 open reading frame is incorporated into the VGlut mRNA, while the T2A sequence is expected to truncate the native VGlut gene product and promotes the separate translation of the Scer\GAL4 open reading frame. Thus Scer\GAL4 expression is driven by the native VGlut regulatory sequences.
ScerGAL4VGlut-MI04979-TG4.2 drives expression in neurons in the adult thoracico-abdominal ganglion that express VGlut1 but not ChAT or GABA.
Drives expression in glutamatergic neurons.
ScerGAL4VGlut-MI04979-TG4.2 drives expression in adult neurons that use glutamate as a neurotransmitter, including a subset of DN1 neurons in the adult dorsal brain that coexpress EcollexAGMR18H11.
ScerGAL4VGlut-MI04979-TG4.2 drives expression in neurons that use glutamate as a neurotransmitter, and replicates the VGlut1 immunoreactivity pattern. Expression is also observed in a small group of neurons in the posterior larval optic lobe; those neurons are not positive for VGlut1 immunoreactivity, but are also labeled by the VGlut1 reporter ScerGAL4VGlut-OK371
Optogenetic activation (using Crei\ChR2UAS.cSa with 470 nm (blue) light) of Scer\GAL4VGlut-MI04979-TG4.2 cells results in loss of larval mobility.