TransTag enables simple and efficient transgene mapping in zebrafish via tagmentation

Zebrafish has become a preeminent model for developmental biology research, largely due to the ease of transgenesis. Despite widespread usage of transgenic lines, mapping of transgene insertion sites is rare, which raises complications involving potential local chromatin influences on transgene expression, off-target effects, and issues with allelic variation. To address these short-comings, we introduce TransTag, a simple and efficient method utilizing Tn5 transposase-mediated tagmentation, for streamlined identification of Tol2-based transgene insertion sites in zebrafish. TransTag is straightforward to perform and can identify insertion sites without the need for alignment of raw sequencing data. We also provide a detailed protocol for TransTag, a step-by-step guide for data analysis, and a user-friendly Shiny app, making transgene mapping achievable at low cost for researchers without programming expertise. Altogether, TransTag emerges as a valuable tool to enhance the precision and utility of transgenesis studies by providing essential chromosome-specific information on transgene locations. Overall design: TransTag libraries for several transgenic zebrafish strains were generated and analyzed to identify transgene insertion sites.