A cross-species AAV platform for precise microglial interrogation.

A novel AAV platform achieves over 90% microglial specificity across multiple species, including mice, rats, rhesus macaques, and human brain slices.

• Why it matters: Targeting microglia with AAVs is difficult due to low transduction efficiency, off-target effects, and payload performance issues, hindering research and therapy development.
• What they did: The platform combines a 446-bp microglia-specific regulatory element, a high-yield capsid, neuronal de-targeting, and codon optimization, enabling precise, long-lasting transgene expression following intracranial delivery.
• The result: This versatile toolkit supports calcium imaging, chemogenetics, and genome editing, facilitating microglial research and potential therapeutic strategies across species.