Cx3cr1(CreERT2)-driven Atg7 deletion in adult mice induces intestinal adhesion

Microglia are macrophages resident in the central nervous system. C-X3-C motif chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1) is a G(αi)-coupled seven-transmembrane protein exclusively expressed in the mononuclear phagocyte system including microglia, as well as intestinal and kidney macrophages. Cx3cr1(CreERT2) mice express Cre recombinase in a tamoxifen-inducible manner and have been widely used to delete target genes in microglia, since microglia are long-lived cells and outlive peripheral macrophages, which continuously turn over and lose their gene modification over time. ATG7 is an E1-like enzyme that plays an essential role in two ubiquitin-like reactions, ATG12-ATG5 conjugation and LC3-lipidation in autophagy. To study the role of ATG7 in adult microglia, we generated Cx3cr1(CreERT2):Atg7(fl/fl) mice and deleted Atg7 at the age of 8 weeks, and found induction of intestinal adhesion. Since intestinal adhesion is caused by excessive inflammation, these results suggest that deletion of Atg7 in intestinal macrophages even for a short time results in inflammation that cannot be rescued by replenishment with wild-type intestinal macrophages. Our finding suggests that, depending on the roles of the gene, Cx3cr1-Cre-mediated gene deletion may yield unanticipated physiological outcomes outside the central nervous system, and careful necropsy is necessary to assure the microglia-specific roles of the target gene.