Construction of irf4a Transgenic Zebrafish Using Tol2 System and Its Potential Application

Purpose: Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is identified as a transcriptional factor and plays an important role in the immune response in mammals; however, there are few reports about the function of zebrafish IRF4. Methods: We first amplified the coding sequence of irf4a from the testis of zebrafish. Besides, the fragments of irf4a , P2A , EGFP , and Tol2 vector were added for homologous recombination. By sequencing, we can get the Tol2-ef1α-irf4a-EGFP recombinant plasmid and it was microinjected into zebrafish embryos. Fluorescence observation was proceeded at days 3 post fertilization; F0 generations expressing green fluorescence in multiple tissues throughout the body were screened as the founder and raised them to sexual maturity. After mating with WT zebrafish to generate F1 offspring, polymerase chain reaction was used to identify whether irf4a was integrated into the zebrafish genome. Conclusion: We obtained the systematic overexpressed irf4a transgenic zebrafish with green fluorescence labeled in spine, eyes, heart, brain, and other tissues. The transgenic zebrafish will be used as a tool for the role of IRF4a in the immune response to the inflammation preconditioning in the future study.