Elucidating the transcriptional circuitry controlling forebrain development requires an understanding of enhancer activity and regulation. We generated stable transgenic mouse lines that express CreERT2 and GFP from ten different enhancer elements with activity in distinct domains within the embryonic basal ganglia. We used these unique tools to generate a comprehensive regional fate map of the mouse subpallium, including sources for specific subtypes of amygdala neurons. We then focused on deciphering transcriptional mechanisms that control enhancer activity. Using machine-learning computations, in vivo chromosomal occupancy of 13 transcription factors that regulate subpallial patterning and differentiation and analysis of enhancer activity in Dlx1/2 and Lhx6 mutants, we elucidated novel molecular mechanisms that regulate region-specific enhancer activity in the developing brain. Thus, these subpallial enhancer transgenic lines are data and tool resources to study transcriptional regulation of GABAergic cell fate.
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