Progress in gene transfer by germ cells in mammals

Use of germ cells as vectors for transgenesis in mammals has been well developed and offers exciting prospects for experimental and applied biology, agricultural and medical sciences.Such approach is referred to as either male germ cell mediated gene transfer (MGCMGT)or female germ cell mediated gene transfer(FGCMGT)technique.Sperm-mediated gene transfer (SMGT),including its alternative method,testis-mediated gene transfer(TMGT),becomes an established and reliable method for transgenesis.They have been extensively used for producing transgenic animals.The newly developed approach of FGCMGT,ovary-mediated gene transfer(OMGT) is also a novel and useful tool for efficient transgenesis.This review highlights an overview of the recent progress in germ cell mediated gene transfer techniques,methods developed and mechanisms of nucleic acid uptake by germ cells.     

Progress in gene transfer by germ cells in mammals

Use of germ cells as vectors for transgenesis in mammals has been well developed and offers exciting prospects for experimental and applied biology,agricultural and medical sciences.Such approach is referred to as either male germ cell mediated gene transfer(MGCMGT) or female germ cell mediated gene transfer(FGCMGT) technique.Sperm-mediated gene transfer(SMGT),including its alternative method,testis-mediated gene transfer(TMGT),becomes an established and reliable method for transgenesis.They have been exten...     

昆虫水平基因转移及其研究进展

水平基因转移(horizontal gene transfer, HGT)是生物体获得遗传信息的方式之一,对生物体进化起重要作用。近年来,越来越多昆虫中的水平基因转移现象被报道,如在鳞翅目(如家蚕、甜菜夜蛾、小菜蛾、斜纹夜蛾)、半翅目(如柑橘粉蚧、烟粉虱)、鞘翅目(如咖啡果小蠹、米象、光肩星天牛)、膜翅目(如金小蜂)、双翅目(如果蝇、白纹伊蚊)等昆虫中广泛存在水平转移基因,且不同的水平转移基因对昆虫的营养合成与共生、吸收与消化、毒素产生与解毒、生长和发育、体色改变等方面有着重要作用。本文结合国内外专家学者的相关报道,就HGT的研究步骤与技术方法、评判HGT发生的方法、昆虫HGT的供体与功能几个方面进行了总结和讨论,以期更加深入地了解水平基因转移现象,为探究水平基因转移的作用机制、理解昆虫的进化、遗传和行为、并将水平基因转移应用到农业生产中为农业害虫的绿色防治提供更多思路。     

Hydrodynamics-based transfection of the liver: entrance into hepatocytes of DNA that causes expression takes place very early after injection

BACKGROUND: The mechanism of gene transfer into hepatocytes by the hydrodynamics-based transfection procedure is not clearly understood. It has been shown that, after a hydrodynamic injection, a large proportion of plasmid DNA remains intact in the liver where it is bound to plasma membrane and suggested that this DNA could be responsible for the efficiency of the transfection. METHODS: We have investigated the problem by giving mice a hydrodynamic injection of isotonic NaCl, followed at different time intervals by a conventional injection of DNA, cold or labelled with (35)S, with cDNA of luciferase as a reporter gene. Then, we determined the consequences of that dual injection on luciferase expression and on DNA uptake by the liver and its intracellular fate. By such experiments, it is possible to establish the time dependency of the induction of liver changes caused by a hydrodynamic injection on the one hand and the expression and DNA uptake and fate on the other. Moreover, some experiments have been performed on primary cultures of hepatocytes isolated after a hydrodynamic injection of DNA. RESULTS: When DNA is given to mice by a conventional injection a few seconds after an hydrodynamic injection of isotonic NaCl, luciferase expression in the liver is considerably lower than that observed after a single hydrodynamic injection of the plasmid. On the other hand, as assessed by the rate of DNA degradation and by centrifugation results obtained after injection of (35)S-DNA, the uptake and the intracellular fate of the bulk of DNA are similar whether DNA is administered by a single hydrodynamic injection or by a conventional injection given up to at least 2 h after a hydrodynamic injection of isotonic NaCl. Hepatocytes isolated a few minutes after a hydrodynamic injection exhibit a maximal expression that does not depend on the large amount of DNA that remains bound to the plasma membrane for a relatively long time. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the efficiency of hydrodynamics-based transfection depends on a process that takes place very quickly after injection and is not linked to a delay of DNA degradation and the persistence of a large proportion of DNA bound to hepatocytes of the plasma membrane, strongly suggesting that expression after a hydrodynamic injection is caused by a small proportion of DNA molecules that rapidly enter the cytosol probably by plasma membrane pores generated by the hydrodynamic pressure.     

ENDOSYMBIOTIC AND HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER IN CHROMALVEOLATES1

Chromalveolates include photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic (some plastid‐lacking) algae and protists that define a vast swath of eukaryotic diversity. These taxa are masters of gene acquisition through serial endosymbiosis (endosymbiotic gene transfer, EGT) and horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Understanding the contribution of these sources to nuclear genomes is key to elucidating chromalveolate evolution and to identifying suitable phylogenetic markers to place this lineage in the tree of life. Here we briefly review recent findings in our lab with regard to EGT and HGT in chromalveolates.     

Detecting horizontal gene transfer with T-REX and RHOM programs

As the Human Genome Project and other genome projects experience remarkable success and a flood of biological data is produced by means of high-throughout sequencing techniques, detection of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) becomes a promising field in bioinformatics. This review describes two freeware programs: T-REX for MS Windows and RHOM for Linux. T-REX is a graphical user interface program that offers functions to reconstruct the HGT network among the donor and receptor hosts from the gene and species distance matrices. RHOM is a set of command-line driven programs used to detect HGT in genomes. While T-REX impresses with a user-friendly interface and drawing of the reticulation network, the strength of RHOM is an extensive statistical framework of genome and the graphical display of the estimated sequence position probabilities for the candidate horizontally transferred genes.     

受体介导的EBV复制子载体定向导入大鼠肝脏组织中表达

在先前的体外实验中,我们利用半乳糖基化组蛋白与带荧光素酶报告基因的ＥＢ病毒复制子载体ｐＥＢｌｕｃ,在体外组建了一种核酸蛋白质复合物。它可被肝细胞表面特异存在的脱唾液酸糖蛋白受体识别,并通过该受体介导的内吞作用将外源基因特异性导入培养的肝细胞素中表达。     

家蚕转基因方法的初步研究

为建立家蚕转基因研究中切实可行的外源基因导入方法、分别用显微注射法、精子介导法、脂质体法和压力渗透法将含有绿色荧光蛋白(gfp)基因的转座子载体和辅助质粒转入到家蚕的受精卵中。在后代中检测到发绿色荧光的蚕茧,用PCR方法检测到后代个体染色体中含有gfp基因,并比较了上述几种方法的优缺点,为进一步进行转基因家蚕的研究奠定了基础。     

Fates of Evolutionarily Distinct,Plastid‐type Glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate Dehydrogenase Genes in Kareniacean Dinoflagellates

The ancestral kareniacean dinoflagellate has undergone tertiary endosymbiosis, in which the original plastid is replaced by a haptophyte endosymbiont. During this plastid replacement, the endosymbiont genes were most likely flowed into the host dinoflagellate genome (endosymbiotic gene transfer or EGT). Such EGT may have generated the redundancy of functionally homologous genes in the host genome—one has resided in the host genome prior to the haptophyte endosymbiosis, while the other transferred from the endosymbiont genome. However, it remains to be well understood how evolutionarily distinct but functionally homologous genes were dealt in the dinoflagellate genomes bearing haptophyte‐derived plastids. To model the gene evolution after EGT in plastid replacement, we here compared the characteristics of the two evolutionally distinct genes encoding plastid‐type glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in Karenia brevis and K. mikimotoi bearing haptophyte‐derived tertiary plastids: “gapC1h” acquired from the haptophyte endosymbiont and “gapC1p” inherited from the ancestral dinoflagellate. Our experiments consistently and clearly demonstrated that, in the two species examined, the principal plastid‐type GAPDH is encoded by gapC1h rather than gapC1p. We here propose an evolutionary scheme resolving the EGT‐derived redundancy of genes involved in plastid function and maintenance in the nuclear genomes of dinoflagellates that have undergone plastid replacements. Although K. brevis and K. mikimotoi are closely related to each other, the statuses of the two evolutionarily distinct gapC1 genes in the two Karenia species correspond to different steps in the proposed scheme.     

基因治疗研究中脂质体介导的基因转移技术

对于脂质体的深入研究特别是阳离子脂质体的研制使其逐步成为重要的基因转移载体之一,并且初步应用于基因治疗研究,同时多种靶向脂质体的研制也为体内靶向基因转移和表达奠定了基础。本文就脂质体的结构、功能、在基因治疗研究中的应用以及各种靶向脂质体的研制进行了介绍。     

基因治疗载体及其基因转移技术的关键问题与研究现状

目前使用的基因治疗载体及其基因转移技术中还没有一种能用于临床并永久有效的基因转移技术 .该文分析了直接体内转移、间接体内转移及其非载体法、病毒载体法、非病毒性生物载体法等基因治疗转移技术存在的一些关键问题 ,并探讨了各问题的解决办法或研究策略以及基因治疗载体研究的发展方向     

Frequent,independent transfers of a catabolic gene from bacteria to contrasted filamentous eukaryotes

Even genetically distant prokaryotes can exchange genes between them, and these horizontal gene transfer events play a central role in adaptation and evolution. While this was long thought to be restricted to prokaryotes, certain eukaryotes have acquired genes of bacterial origin. However, gene acquisitions in eukaryotes are thought to be much less important in magnitude than in prokaryotes. Here, we describe the complex evolutionary history of a bacterial catabolic gene that has been transferred repeatedly from different bacterial phyla to stramenopiles and fungi. Indeed, phylogenomic analysis pointed to multiple acquisitions of the gene in these filamentous eukaryotes—as many as 15 different events for 65 microeukaryotes. Furthermore, once transferred, this gene acquired introns and was found expressed in mRNA databases for most recipients. Our results show that effective inter-domain transfers and subsequent adaptation of a prokaryotic gene in eukaryotic cells can happen at an unprecedented magnitude.     

转基因鸡的研究策略

转基因研究工作开展十几年来,成就斐然。转基因鸡的研究策略论述了生产转基因鸡的几种方法和鸡的基因组操作研究进展,并详细地阐述了转基因鸡胚胎的体外培养技术。指出：转基因鸡投入生产以前必须查明其表型改变对生态平衡的影响。     

Horizontal gene transfer accelerates genome innovation and evolution

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) spreads genetic diversity by moving genes across species boundaries. By rapidly introducing newly evolved genes into existing genomes, HGT circumvents the slow step of ab initio gene creation and accelerates genome innovation. However, HGT can only affect organisms that readily exchange genes (exchange communities). In order to define exchange communities and understand the internal and external environmental factors that regulate HGT, we analyzed approximately 20,000 genes contained in eight free-living prokaryotic genomes. These analyses indicate that HGT occurs among organisms that share similar factors. The most significant are genome size, genome G/C composition, carbon utilization, and oxygen tolerance.     

The tetrapyrrole synthesis pathway as a model of horizontal gene transfer in euglenoids

The history of euglenoids may have begun as early as ~2 bya. These early phagotrophs ate cyanobacteria, archaea, and eubacteria, and the subsequent appearance of red algae and chromalveolates provided euglenoids with additional food sources. Following the appearance of green algae, euglenoids acquired a chloroplast via a secondary endosymbiotic event with a green algal ancestor. This endosymbiosis also involved a massive transfer of nuclear‐encoded genes from the symbiont nucleus to the host. Expecting these genes to have a green algal origin, this research has shown, through the use of DNA‐sequences and the analysis of phylogenetic relationships, that many housekeeping genes have a red algal/chromalveolate ancestry. This suggested that many other endosymbiotic/horizontal gene transfers, which brought genes from chromalveolates to euglenoids, may have been taking place long before the acquisition of the chloroplast. The investigation of the origin of the enzymes involved in the tetrapyrrole synthesis pathway provided insights into horizontal gene transfer in euglenoids and demonstrated that the euglenoid nuclear genome is a mosaic comprised of genes from the ancestral lineage plus genes transferred endosymbiotically/horizontally from green, red, and chromalveolates lineages.     

非病毒基因治疗的研究进展

非病毒基因治疗是相对于病毒性基因治疗而言,指采用非病毒的载体进行的基因治疗。非病毒的基因载体比病毒性基因载体具有高安全性、低免疫原性及易于生产的特点。本文就非病毒基因治疗所采用的主要方法、面蜂的主要问题及发展方向作一概括的介绍。随着人类对疾病发病分子机制的深入研究及人类基因组计划的实施,非病毒基因治疗将在人类疾病的治疗中发挥重要作用。