Ms4a3-IRES-iCre Mouse

Ms4a3 (Membrane spanning 4-domains subfamily A member 3) is a member of the MS4A transmembrane protein family and is primarily expressed in granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMPs) and their downstream myeloid cells, including neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils. Studies have shown that Ms4a3 plays important roles in myeloid cell differentiation, hematopoietic development, and immune lineage specification, and has been widely used as a marker gene for myeloid progenitors and their descendant cells. In recent years, Ms4a3-related lineage tracing systems have been applied in studies of the developmental origins of neutrophils and monocyte-macrophage lineages, inflammatory responses, and tissue immune microenvironments.

Ms4a3-IRES-iCre mice were generated by knocking an IRES-iCre cassette into the endogenous Ms4a3 locus, enabling the expression of codon-optimized iCre recombinase under the control of endogenous Ms4a3 regulatory elements. When crossed with mice containing loxP sites, Cre-mediated recombination between loxP sites is expected to occur in Ms4a3-positive cells of the offspring.