小鼠类胚胎干细胞分离培养及用于制作嵌合体小鼠的实验研究

目的探讨分离小鼠囊胚内细胞群类胚胎干细胞及用于制作嵌合体小鼠的方法及应用价值。方法分离3.5d小鼠囊胚内细胞群的类胚胎干细胞作为供体细胞,通过显微注射方法将分离的类胚胎干细胞注射到供体小鼠的囊胚腔中,再将注射后的囊胚移植到假孕雌鼠的子宫中制作嵌合体小鼠。结果分离36枚囊胚的内细胞群类胚胎干细胞,注射256只昆明小鼠囊胚中,移植32只假孕雌鼠子宫中,获产崽2窝,共12只,其中2只获毛色嵌合体小鼠。结论采用该技术分离所获得的类胚胎干细胞作为供体细胞制作嵌合体小鼠获得成功,该方法为ES细胞介导的转基因动物制作增添了一条新的途径,在同种不同品系的动物改良及遗传病基因治疗中有一定的应用价值,尤其是对未能建立ES细胞系的大动物的遗传工程操作具有一定意义。     

提高利用C57BL/6胚胎干细胞系制作基因打靶小鼠效率的研究

为了提高通过C57BL/6(B6)胚胎干细胞(embryonic stem cells,ES cells)获得基因打靶小鼠的效率,该研究利用经过体外和体内多能性验证的C57BL/6 ES细胞系B6-1-6,开展了37组平行的制作基因打靶小鼠的实验。首先,对不同的囊胚获取的方式进行对比;其次,统计37组实验中的嵌合鼠表观嵌合度与种系遗传效率,并对二者相关性进行分析。对于BALB/c小鼠,自然排卵相较于激素超排能够得到更多囊胚(2.91个囊胚/只vs 0.82个囊胚/只);对于最佳注射个数的探索,利用C57BL/6 ES细胞系B6-1-6进行基因修饰并注射囊胚,注射65~97个胚胎获得阳性打靶动物的可能性为95%;嵌合鼠毛色嵌合率与种系遗传率有一定相关性(r=0.316,P=0.057),而嵌合鼠眼睛颜色与种系遗传效率显著正相关(r=0.328,P0.05)。该研究探索了用于C57BL/6 ES细胞注射的BALB/c囊胚获取方式的优化和最佳的注射数量,以及嵌合鼠表观嵌合度与种系遗传效率相关性等方面,以期为相关的研究提供有益的参考。     

BALB／c小鼠胚胎干细胞系的建立及其嵌合体小鼠的获得

目的：建立BALB/c小鼠胚胎干细胞系,并用于制作嵌合体小鼠。方法：从BALB／c小鼠囊胚内分离培养内细胞团块。建系后,进行C57BL／6L小鼠受体囊胚腔注射,制作嵌合体小鼠,结果：建立了我国第一株BALB／c小鼠胚胎干细胞系,该细胞系具有典型的ES细胞形态,碱性磷酸酶强阳性,核型正常以及具有分化为三种胚层组织的能力,并已产生5只嵌合体小鼠,结论：建立的BALB／c小鼠胚胎干细胞系具有胚胎干细胞的各种特点,可用于体内外诱导分化研究,在进一步观察生殖系嵌合情况后,决定是否可应用于基因打靶等转基因动物的制作。     

利用基因诱捕识别哺乳动物发育调控基因

ES细胞是一种来源于胚胎的多潜能细胞,它可在体外培养并进行基因操作,而且通过囊胚注射制作嵌合体的途径,能将外源基因掺入小鼠的基因库中,因此利用ES细胞可筛选出发生基因突变的小概率事件并获得其遗传突变体．利用基因诱捕载体与ES细胞,研究与哺乳动物发育调控有关的未知基因,这一新技术将成为阐明胚胎发育过程中基因表达的时空格式的有效手段．     

远交系小鼠胚胎干细胞系的建立及嵌合鼠的获得

ES细胞（Embryonic Stcm Cells)是来源小鼠早期胚胎的多潜能干细胞,它可以在体外大量培养,并以单细胞的形式注射到早期胚胎里,发育为嵌合体,到目前为止,通常使用的129小鼠品系是来源于近交系（inbrcd)小鼠的胚胎。与之相比,远交系小鼠应当具有较强的生命力和抗病能力。曾有人报道过建成了远交系小鼠胚胎干细胞系,但是尚没有见到获得嵌合鼠的报道。有人甚至认为：由于不同品系小鼠所具有的遗传背景不同,有的小鼠不能建成ES细胞系。最近,本实验室在这方面做了有益的探索,成功地建成了远交系小鼠胚胎干细胞系,并在这里报导首例用远交小鼠胚胎干细胞系培育成功嵌合体小鼠。采用源于Swiss小鼠远交群的昆明（KM）品系小鼠囊胚建成了三个小鼠胚胎干细胞系（KE1,KE2,KE5)。核型正常率均达到70％以上。自第八代起分批存。复苏后,培养至第12代,消化成单细胞,通过囊胚显微注射,将其注射到615品系小鼠胚胎。在幸存的幼鼠中获得了一只来源于KE1细胞的嵌合鼠（Table1)。其毛色表现为受体鼠（615）的白色中嵌合有供体鼠（KM)黑褐色（Platc I-A）。嵌合鼠与受体鼠的杂交后代鼠中仍然出现了受体鼠的毛色类型（PlateI-B)。证明：ES细胞能嵌合到生殖腺并形成具有正常功能的配子,从而产生种系嵌合鼠。     

睾丸注射法制备携带山羊H-FABP基因的转基因小鼠

为探究睾丸注射法制备转基因动物的可能性,文章将携带有山羊心脏型脂肪酸结合蛋白(H-FABP)和绿色荧光蛋白标签的重组载体经脂质体包裹后随机打点注射小鼠睾丸。对实验小鼠进行睾丸切片、精子荧光检测以及精子DNA检测,证实外源基因在亲代小鼠体内成功表达。睾丸注射后小鼠与正常母鼠交配产生的F1代,以及F1代自交产生的F2代在不同水平均可检测到外源基因的成功表达,阳性率分别为4%和30.23%。研究结果说明睾丸注射是一种制备转基因动物行之有效的方法,且外源基因可以稳定遗传。该方法的完善和成熟对于动物转基因以及动物性状改良和育种具有理论和实践意义。     

潮霉素抗性转基因BDF1小鼠模型的建立

目的建立具有潮霉素（hygromycin）抗性转基因BDF1小鼠,用于制备携有hygromycin抗性筛选标志ES阳性细胞克隆的饲养层。方法通过显微注射的方法,将含有潮霉素B磷酸转移酶基因片段（5.1kb）导入BDF1受精卵雄原核中,共注射169枚受精卵,然后将129枚受精卵细胞植入同期受孕的受体母鼠输卵管内。结果共产生37只转基因小鼠,经PCR和Southern检测获得9只阳性小鼠,对一只子代鼠进行RT-PCR检测证明hyg基因已经在肾、肌肉、脾内表达。结论成功的建立具有潮霉素抗性的BDF1转基因鼠,该模型动物可以为基因敲除研究提供良好的基础条件。     

转基因动物的遗传修饰与应用(下)

CTheGeneticModificationandApplicationofTransgenicAnimals(Ⅱ)ChengWeizhongLiuYingboYuQixing(DepartmentofGenetics,SchoolofLifeSciences,WuhanUniversity,Wuhan430072)3．转基因动物的遗传表现及变异机理目前,大多数外源基因在导人受体动物细胞后都能比较‘真实”地进行表达共产生特定的表型特征,甚至具有十分明显的遗传效应,如生长激素基因转移所获得的超级小鼠和鱼,许多人体蛋白基因转入山羊、小鼠和奶牛细胞获得泌乳性药物以及人类遗传病和致毒致癌动物模型的应用等,其中有些转基因动物亦可将其所携带的外源基因通…     

小鼠KGF基因毛囊特异性表达载体的构建及mESC脂质体悬浮转染条件的优化

旨在构建小鼠角质细胞生长因子(KGF)真核表达载体pCDsR-UKA,通过脂质体转染法转染小鼠胚胎干细胞( mESC),并进一步优化其转染条件,最终获得可以正常生长并稳定表达红色荧光蛋白的转KGF基因的ES细胞.利用RTPCR技术扩增小鼠KGF基因cDNA并构建表达载体pCDsR-UKA (6.6 kb),经鉴定正确的重组质粒DNA用脂质体包裹后转染mESC.从小鼠成纤维细胞cDNA扩增出891 bp的KGF基因片段与UHS启动子和BGH polyA序列成功重组到pCDsRed2载体中.经酶切和DNA测序验证,插入载体的DNA片段为KGF基因且方向正确.采用脂质体法优化转染条件,mESC最高转染效率达到(34.4±4.1)％.经G418筛选的转基因ES细胞通过PCR鉴定证实外源基因已整合在ES细胞基因组中.成功获得了小鼠KGF基因片段,以及真核表达载体pCDsR-UKA,经优化的脂质体悬浮法转染条件,在六孔板中当DNA与脂质体比例为3:10时,可获得最佳转染效率且不改变ES细胞的生长状态,经筛选获得了转基因ES细胞克隆.为下一步通过四倍体补偿技术获得ES小鼠提供了转基因ES细胞.     

pINC—lacZ逆转录病毒载体的构建及其在小鼠胚胎干细胞中的表达

小鼠胚胎干细胞系（ES）是从囊胚的内细胞团中建立起来的多潜能胚胎干细胞系。ES细胞系目前正广泛用于将基因打靶后后的突变和其它遗传变化导入小鼠的种系中。其中,嵌合鼠的获得是非常必要的一步。这就需要用一个可以广泛表达的基因对ES细胞进行标记。大肠杆菌β－半乳糖苷酶（β－gal）基因的表达在细胞水平就能很容易地观察到,而且对哺乳动物细胞没有任何毒害作用,因而是一个被广泛地用于各种细胞基因表达研究中的报导基因。猿类巨细胞病毒早期（SiCMVIE）启动子是一个广泛用于转基因小鼠研究中的强启动子。然而,该启动子在ES细胞方面的报道尚未见到。本研究用BamHI和HindIII双酶切,从psv-β-galactosidasec中得到3．7Kb的lacZ基因片断,将其插入妻pINC载体上（Fig.1) ,得到pINC－lacZ(Fig.2)。用NotI线性化pINC－lacZ后,电击导入MESPU－13细胞中。MESPU－13为本实验室从129／Tcr品系小鼠的囊胚中建立的一个ES细胞系。转化细胞在含有250μg/mlG418的培养基上培养两周,进行MESPU－13细胞稳定转化子的筛选。在一次转化实验中,佾1×10^7个转化的MESPU－13细胞中获得了4个G418抗性克隆。X－gal染色表明：其中3个克隆中有导入的基因表达。由于其中的一个细胞系MC15表现阳性染色（Fig.3)和很好的生长状态,对该系进行了进一步的研究。MC15细胞的二倍体核型正常率为72．4％。MESPU－13细胞不表现β－gal活性;另外,以lacZ基因为探针,对经过BamHI酶切过的MC15细胞基因组DNA进行的Southern分析显示：MC15细胞克隆中仅有一条要交带（Fig.4)。说明该细胞克隆中含有一个单考贝整合。在谱系分析中成功的细胞标记依赖于标记基因的稳定表达。许多强的启动子被用于基因表达的研究。例如鸡的β－肌动蛋白启动子。外源基因可以稳定地整合到未分化细胞的染色体上,然而它们的表达常常被抑制直到随后的分化过程中。本研究中我们首次用强的SiCMVIE启动子构建了pINC－lac载体,由SiCMVIE启动子引导转录的lacZ基因能够在ES细胞中表达。然而lacZ的表达仅存在于3个克隆中,另一个克隆并不表现β－gal活性。很可能在不同整合位为上基因的表达是不同的。     

源于129S1品系的小鼠胚胎干细胞系的建立及其生物学特性分析

从129S1小鼠早期胚胎的内细胞团分离、培养类胚胎样细胞,经反复传代,成功地建立了129S1小鼠胚胎干细胞系,命名为NM-2细胞系。形态学鉴定具有胚胎干细胞的典型形态特征,正常核型率为80％;呈碱性磷酸酶阳性、表达胚胎干细胞特异性转录因子OCT-4;体内分化后可形成源于三胚层的组织结构;经囊胚腔显微注射后所获得的子代个体中79％具有毛色嵌合表型;雄性嵌合个体中31％发生生殖腺嵌合;同时,通过育种观察到所有生殖腺嵌合体的子代小鼠表型正常。以上结果证实NM-2细胞系为一株具高生殖腺嵌合能力的小鼠胚胎干细胞系。     

Immunoglobulin kappa light chain gene promoter and enhancer are not responsible for B-cell restricted gene rearrangement.

We have produced transgenic mice which synthesize chimeric mouse-rabbit immunoglobulin (Ig) kappa light chains following in vivo recombination of an injected unrearranged kappa gene. The exogenous gene construct contained a mouse germ-line kappa variable (V kappa) gene segment, the mouse germ-line joining (J kappa) locus including the enhancer, and the rabbit b9 constant (C kappa) region. A high level of V-J recombination of the kappa transgene was observed in spleen of the transgenic mice. Surprisingly, a particularly high degree of variability in the exact site of recombination and the presence of non germ-line encoded nucleotides (N-regions) were found at the V-J junction of the rearranged kappa transgene. Furthermore, unlike endogenous kappa genes, rearrangement of the exogenous gene occurred in T-cells of the transgenic mice. These results show that additional sequences, other than the heptamer-nonamer signal sequences and the promoter and enhancer elements, are required to obtain stage- and lineage- specific regulation of Ig kappa light chain gene rearrangement in vivo.     

Establishment of a germ-line competent C57BL/6 embryonic stem cell line

Embryonic stem (ES) cell lines have been derived from blastocysts of the inbred mouse strain C57BL/6. The highest frequencies of ES cell colonies were observed when blastocysts were explanted directly onto growth-arrested feeder layers of 5637 human bladder carcinoma cells in the presence of conditioned medium. One of the male ES cell lines tested (BL/6-III) was shown to be karyotypically stable and germ-line competent when introduced into BALB/c host blastocysts. These results demonstrate that ES cell lines from inbred mouse strains other than 129/Sv may be used as vectors to introduce selected mutations into the germ-line of mice.     

A modified RMCE-compatible Rosa26 locus for the expression of transgenes from exogenous promoters

Generation of gain-of-function transgenic mice by targeting the Rosa26 locus has been established as an alternative to classical transgenic mice produced by pronuclear microinjection. However, targeting transgenes to the endogenous Rosa26 promoter results in moderate ubiquitous expression and is not suitable for high expression levels. Therefore, we now generated a modified Rosa26 (modRosa26) locus that combines efficient targeted transgenesis using recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) by Flipase (Flp-RMCE) or Cre recombinase (Cre-RMCE) with transgene expression from exogenous promoters. We silenced the endogenous Rosa26 promoter and characterized several ubiquitous (pCAG, EF1α and CMV) and tissue-specific (VeCad, αSMA) promoters in the modRosa26 locus in vivo. We demonstrate that the ubiquitous pCAG promoter in the modRosa26 locus now offers high transgene expression. While tissue-specific promoters were all active in their cognate tissues they additionally led to rare ectopic expression. To achieve high expression levels in a tissue-specific manner, we therefore combined Flp-RMCE for rapid ES cell targeting, the pCAG promoter for high transgene levels and Cre/LoxP conditional transgene activation using well-characterized Cre lines. Using this approach we generated a Cre/LoxP-inducible reporter mouse line with high EGFP expression levels that enables cell tracing in live cells. A second reporter line expressing luciferase permits efficient monitoring of Cre activity in live animals. Thus, targeting the modRosa26 locus by RMCE minimizes the effort required to target ES cells and generates a tool for the use exogenous promoters in combination with single-copy transgenes for predictable expression in mice.     

Nuclear transfer-mediated rescue of the nuclear genome of nonviable mouse cells frozen without cryoprotectant

Nuclear transfer (NT) provides an opportunity for clonal amplification of a nuclear genome of interest. Here, we report NT-mediated reprogramming with frozen mouse cells that were nonviable because they were frozen at -80 degrees C for up to 342 days without a cryoprotectant. We derived eight embryonic stem (ES) cell lines from cloned blastocysts by conventional NT procedure and five ntES (nuclear transfer embryonic stem) cell lines by a modified NT procedure in which a whole cell instead of a nucleus was injected into an enucleated oocyte. Chromosome analysis revealed that 12 of 13 ntES cell lines have normal karyotypes. On injection of ntES cells into tetraploid blastocysts to generate clonal mice that are nearly completely ntES-cell derived, live pups were obtained; four clonal mice survived until adulthood. On injection of ntES cells into diploid blastocysts, chimeric mice with a high somatic ES cell contribution were generated; germ-line transmission was obtained. Our findings indicate that chromosome stability and genomic integrity can be maintained in mouse somatic cells after freezing without cryoprotection and that NT and ES cell techniques can rescue the genome of these cells.     

Embryonic stem cells stably transfected with mRAR beta 2-lacZ exhibit specific expression in chimeric embryos.

Using the embryonic stem (ES) cell/chimera approach, we have studied the activity of the mouse retinoic acid receptor beta 2 (mRAR beta 2) promoter during ES cell differentiation and during embryonic development. Stable ES clones were isolated after introduction of a 1.8 kb mRAR beta 2-lacZ expression cassette. LacZ expression in these stable clones was specifically induced by retinoic acid (RA) in a similar fashion as the endogenous RAR beta 2 gene. Following introduction of three different ES clones into blastocysts, an integration-independent mRAR beta 2-lacZ expression pattern was obtained in chimeric embryos similar to that described by in situ hybridization and transgenic studies. Moreover, mRAR beta 2-lacZ expression was also detected at some additional sites not described before, e.g. body wall, ureter, mesonephric duct and optic stalk. Maternal RA administration at 8.5 days of pregnancy extended lacZ expression to more anterior and posterior regions. Transgenic mice were generated from germ-line transmission of the transfected ES cells; expression pattern and changes in expression upon RA induction in these transgenic embryos were identical to those in chimeric embryos. We conclude that by using the ES/chimera approach, the proximal 1.8 kb of the mRAR beta 2 promoter produces a reliable and reproducible expression pattern of the reporter gene, and that the ES cell/chimera approach is invaluable for the study of gene expression and regulation.     

Derivation of a Germline Competent Transgenic Fischer 344 Embryonic Stem Cell Line

Embryonic stem (ES) cell-based gene manipulation is an effective method for the generation of mutant animal models in mice and rats. Availability of germline-competent ES cell lines from inbred rat strains would allow for creation of new genetically modified models in the desired genetic background. Fischer344 (F344) males carrying an enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) transgene were used as the founder animals for the derivation of ES cell lines. After establishment of ES cell lines, rigorous quality control testing that included assessment of pluripotency factor expression, karyotype analysis, and pathogen/sterility testing was conducted in selected ES cell lines. One male ES cell line, F344-Tg.EC4011, was further evaluated for germline competence by injection into Dark Agouti (DA) X Sprague Dawley (SD) blastocysts. Resulting chimeric animals were bred with wild-type SD mates and germline transmissibility of the ES cell line was confirmed by identification of pups carrying the ES cell line-derived EGFP transgene. This is the first report of a germline competent F344 ES cell line. The availability of a new germline competent ES cell line with a stable fluorescence reporter from an inbred transgenic rat strain provides an important new resource for genetic manipulations to create new rat models.