Absence of gut microbiota impairs depletion of Paneth cells but not goblet cells in germ-free Atoh1lox/lox VilCreERT2 mice

Abstract

Cre-lox system is a powerful and widely used research tool developed to understand the specific role of genes. It allows to control the spatial and temporal expression of genes in experimental models. Several limitations including toxicity of Cre recombinase or incomplete excision of floxed loci have been reported in the past. To date, this is the first research study reporting that gut microbes also influence the expected phenotype of Paneth cell depletion in the genetically modified Math1lox/loxVilCreERT2 mouse model.