pAAVdual-CaMKIIα-iCre

pAAVdual-CaMKIIα-iCre is used to produce AAV-CaMKIIα-iCre virus using novel AAVdual production system. In this plasmid, the regular single strand AAV genome with a CaMKIIα promoter and an iCre reporter is cloned into our novel Ad helper plasmid, mini-pHelper. AAV-CaMKIIα-iCre viruses can be generated by co-transfection of this plasmid with regular AAV helper (pRCap) plasmids, carrying AAV2 rep gene and different cap genes, without adding additional Ad helper plasmid to supply E2A, E4orf6 and VA RNA functions.
The CaMKIIα promoter refers to the regulatory sequence that controls the expression of the Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II Alpha (CaMKIIα) gene. CaMKIIα is an essential enzyme predominantly expressed in the brain, especially in excitatory neurons of the forebrain, such as those found in the hippocampus and cortex. The CaMKIIα promoter is a neuron-specific regulatory element that drives gene expression in excitatory neurons of the forebrain, particularly in regions like the hippocampus and cortex. It is a critical tool in neuroscience research, transgenic model development, optogenetics, and potentially gene therapy. Its specificity to neurons involved in synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory makes it invaluable for studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying these key brain functions.
iCre is a codon-optimized variant of Cre recombinase, designed to enhance its expression and efficiency in mammalian cells. Like the standard Cre recombinase, iCre recognizes loxP sites and catalyzes site-specific recombination between them, which can result in the deletion, inversion, or translocation of the DNA sequence flanked by these sites. AAV-iCre offers an improved and more efficient approach to conditional gene manipulation, providing researchers with a powerful tool for studying gene function, lineage tracing, and gene editing.

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