人粒细胞集落刺激因子cDNA的克隆、序列鉴定及初步表达

利用多聚酶链反应技术,从人膀胱癌细胞系5637细胞中快速扩增并克隆了人粒细胞集落刺激因子cDNA,序列分析证明,该cDNA包含人粒细胞集落刺激因子的全部编码基因,全长612bp,编码30个氨基酸的信号肽和174个氨基酸的成熟蛋白。其中第43位codon出现一个碱基的突变(CAC→TAC)导至第43位氨基酸的改变(组氨酸→酪氨酸)。经逆转录病毒导入SP2/0细胞并初步表达。结果表明:该基因产物具有G-CSF活性。     

转基因小鼠乳腺表达G-CSF的研究

用PCR法从正常中国人脐带血提取总DNA作为模板,扩增出1.5 kb的人G-CSF基因组基因。序列分析证实其正确性。将其插入小鼠乳清酸蛋白(WAP)基因的起始密码子ATG前的KpnⅠ位点,使其受控于2.6kb的WAP调控序列,构建成乳腺表达载体pWGG。回收经EcoRⅠ酶切后的8.7kb片段用于显微注射。共注射1200枚受精卵,移植34受体母鼠,产仔鼠85只。经PCR检测和DNA印迹分析,证实获得两只整合有人G-CSF基因的雄性鼠,整合率为2.37％。建立的转基因鼠系表明,采用ELASA方法对F1代雌鼠乳汁检测,成功地表达出人G-CSF。表达量为120～250ng/ml。这一结果表明转基因的表达具有乳腺特异性。这为在大动物中实施转基因提供了依据。     

The mosquito dihydrofolate reductase gene functions as a dominant selectable marker in transfected cells

An Aedes albopictus dihydrofolate reductase gene was used to construct two chimeric DNA vectors that functioned as dominant selectable markers in transfected, wild type mosquito cells. Stably transformed clones were recovered after 10–15 days in the presence of selective medium containing 1 μM methotrexate. The transformed clones contained an estimated 100–500 copies of transfected DNA per nucleus. Combined data from Southern blots and in situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes indicated that transfected DNA was likely integrated into chromosomes both as repeated structures and as randomly integrated single copy molecules, with minimal rearrangement of coding sequences. Transfected DNA was stably maintained under selective conditions, but in some cases was lost when cells were maintained for prolonged periods in the absence of methotrexate. These observations provide a general framework for further development of stable gene transfer systems for mosquito cells in culture.     

A novel dicistronic AAV vector using a short IRES segment derived from hepatitis C virus genome

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have a limited capacity for packaging DNA. To insert both a therapeutic gene and a selectable marker gene in the same AAV vector efficiently, we developed a novel dicistronic AAV vector containing a 230 base pairs (bp) internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element derived from hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome and a 420 bp blasticidin S-resistance gene (bsr) as a small selectable marker in the second cistron. The 650 bp HCV IRES-bsr construct was placed downstream of the 3′ end of the luciferase gene (Luc) under the control of the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. This dicistronic gene conferred blasticidin S-resistance to 293 cells besides luciferase activity, when examined not only by transfection but also by transduction using AAV vectors. The dicistronic AAV vector harbouring HCV IRES-bsr is capable of expressing a therapeutic gene of up to 3.6 kilobases (kb) (including promoter/enhancer elements) as well as a selectable marker gene. If a selectable marker gene is not necessary, this vector is able to incorporate two different kinds of therapeutic genes more easily than that containing EMCV IRES. The dicistronic AAV vector described here is useful for expressing many kinds of cDNA besides a selectable marker.     

Gene amplification in mammalian cells: strategies for protein production.

Gene amplification is an experimental strategy for increasing protein production in mammalian cells. Co-amplification of the target gene by genetically linking it to one or more selectable and amplifiable genetic markers is a particularly successful strategy. A number of papers published in the past year or two illustrate the use of gene amplification to achieve high levels of expression.     

Mulcos: a vector for amplification and simultaneous expression of two foreign genes in mammalian cells

A method was developed for amplification and expression of foreign genes in mammalian cells. This procedure exploits the fact that an SfiI cleavage site, GGCCGCCT/CGGCC (the recognition sequences are underlined), is present at the SV40 replication origin and the cleaved ends, CCT-3' and AGG-3', are not rotationally equivalent. Thus DNA fragments flanked by the SfiI sites can be ligated in head-to-tail tandem arrays and cloned in cosmids; the resulting construct is called a mulcos. The cosmid vector we have used, pCHD2L, contains the single SfiI site as well as HmBR and dhfr genes, selectable markers in mammalian cells. Cassette plasmid pmoRH contains two expression units, each of which consists of SV40 early promoter, EcoRI or HindIII cloning site, small T splicing region, and poly(A) signal, and the two units as a whole are flanked by the SfiI sites. A set of alpha- and beta-chain cDNAs of a human major histocompatibility class-II antigen were inserted into the EcoRI and HindIII sites, respectively. The purified SfiI fragment, containing both expression units, was then ligated with SfiI-linearized cosmid vector pCHD2L at a molar ratio of 20:1. A mulcos containing eight pairs of the alpha- and beta-chain expression units was isolated by in vitro packaging in phage lambda heads and subsequent transfection into Escherichia coli. Drug-selected cells transfected with the mulcos contained significantly higher copy numbers of the expression units and higher expression levels than those obtained using conventional plasmids. More than 85% of these cells expressed class-II antigen on their cell surfaces.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Phenotypic changes and gene expression in human colon mucosal epithelial cells upon transfection of a SV40 DNA-GPT recombinant

Summary Phenotypic changes (increased longevity, decreased growth factor requirements, altered cell surface features, growth in semisolid agarose, and SV40 T antigen expression) suggesting in vitro transformation were displayed by human normal colon mucosal epithelial cells transfected with pSV3gpt, a pBR322 recombinant containing the SV40 “early” T antigen coding region and the dominant selectable marker bacterial gene, xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. In contrast, control cultures which received neither DNA nor the recombinatn pSV2gpt (which is identical to pSV3gpt but lacks the SV40 T antigen region) were not phenotypically altered.     

Protection of uninfected human bone marrow cells in long-term culture from G418 toxicity after retroviral-mediated transfer of the NEOr gene

The long-term effect of retroviral-mediated gene transfer into human hematopoietic cells in vitro was studied in bone marrow culture. Two retroviral vectors (pN2 or pZIP NEO) were used to transfer the gene coding for neomycin phosphotransferase, which confers neomycin resistance, as a dominant selectable marker. Following infection, bone marrow cells of multiple hematopoietic lineages displayed resistance for the duration of the cultures (greater than 80 days) to normally cytotoxic doses of the neomycin analog G418. However, upon DNA analysis of cells surviving in G418, the NEOr (neomycin resistance) gene was not detected under conditions where single copy genes could readily be seen, despite the presence of NEOr RNA sequences. In order to investigate this observation further, infected and uninfected cells were separated by a filter, and cultured in the same medium containing G418. The uninfected cells continued to survive in the presence of normally toxic concentrations of G418. Medium alone from infected cells was able to protect uninfected cells the same way. Efficiency of transfer of this and perhaps other selectable marker genes to cells in the long-term culture system may consequently be overestimated if survival of cells alone is quantitated. These results indicate that long-term cultures are a useful in vitro model for the study of retroviral-mediated gene transfer to human hematopoietic cells.     

One-step gene replacement in yeast by cotransformation

A general method to replace chromosomal DNA sequences of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by any in vitro modified DNA sequence has been developed and was applied to the PHO5 locus on chromosome II. A recipient strain was constructed in which part of the chromosomal PHO5 sequence was substituted by the URA3 gene. Replacement of this pho5-URA3 substitution by pho5 mutant alleles was achieved in one step by cotransformation with a pho5 DNA fragment and the self-replicating plasmid YEp13, which contains the LEU2 gene as a selectable marker. Leu+ transformants were selected, and the replacement events at the PHO5 locus were detected by their Ura- phenotype (1-4% of the Leu+ were Ura-). In a similar way the PHO5 coding sequence was replaced by the sequence coding for human tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA).     

Tandem gene amplification in vitro for rapid and efficient expression in animal cells

Plasmid vectors pHSG293 and pHSG747, suitable for in vitro gene amplification for subsequent animal-cell expression, were developed. A cosmid vector pHSG293 confers Km resistance to Escherichia coli host cells and G418 resistance to animal cells and contains a single BstXI recognition/cleavage site, CCACGGGG/CTGG, near the cos site (the recognition site is underlined). The cassette vector plasmid pHSG747 contains a multiple cloning site (MCS) between the simian virus 40 early promoter and the poly(A) signal sequence flanked by the same BstXI sites and confers Cm resistance to E. coli host cells. After inserting a coding fragment for human protein C or its derivative in the appropriate orientation in the MCS of pHSG747, the BstXI expression unit fragment was purified, mixed with BstXI-digested pHSG293 DNA at a molecular ratio of 20 to 40:1 and ligated. This allowed for tandem gene amplification due to asymmetric cohesive ends. Ligation products were packaged in lambda phage particles, amplified in E. coli cells as large cosmid molecules, and then introduced into CHO cells. G418R transformants were found to produce and secrete recombinant protein molecules at a high level. The plasmid vectors developed in this work will provide a rapid screening system useful for protein engineering in animal cells.     

Bead transfection of adherent cells

Bead transfection is a simple, rapid, efficient, and cost-effective method of gene transfer into adherent mammalian cells. It involves a brief incubation of the cells with glass beads in a solution containing the DNA to be transferred. We have optimized this technique using COS-7 (an SV40 transformed monkey kidney cell line) and a transient expression assay for chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT). Stable transfection efficiency assessed using the selectable marker gene neomycin phosphotransferase (NEO^R) was 27% in COS-7 cells. As this technique delivers high transfection efficiency with little manipulation of the exogenous DNA and does not require the use of any viral sequences, it may be a useful alternative method of gene delivery in the development of gene therapy protocols.     

Isolation of cis-acting vaccinia virus DNA fragments promoting the expression of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase by recombinant viruses.

Recombinant TK- vaccinia viruses containing the pBR322 sequence inserted in either orientation within the coding sequence of the viral thymidine kinase gene were constructed. They were characterized by genomic analysis, hybridization studies, reversion to wild-type virus by in vivo recombination, and rescue from their genomes of plasmids which contained all or parts of the pBR322 sequence. TK- cells were infected with one of these recombinant viruses and then transfected with pools of chimeric plasmids composed of a cloned herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene which contained upstream inserts of different vaccinia DNA fragments prepared by restriction or sonication. Recombination between homologous pBR322 sequences within infected cells generated selectable recombinant viruses in which expression of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene was promoted by the upstream vaccinia insert. These viruses were characterized by genomic analysis, hybridization, and in vivo or in vitro phosphorylation of (5-[125I]deoxycytidine as a specific assay for the expressed herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase. Vaccinia DNA inserts were isolated conveniently for transfer to bacteria by rescuing appropriate plasmids from the genome of recombinant viruses. The sequence of 100 nucleotides adjacent to the upstream region of the herpes simplex virus gene was determined in nine different inserts measuring 0.17 to 1.07 kilobase pairs.     

Excision of selectable marker gene from transgenic tobacco using the GM-gene-deletor system regulated by a heat-inducible promoter

To excise a selectable marker gene from transgenic plants, a new binary expression vector based on the 'genetically modified (GM)-gene-deletor' system was constructed. In this vector, the gene coding for FLP site-specific recombinase under the control of a heat shock-inducible promoter HSP18.2 from Arabidopsis thaliana and isopentenyltransferase gene (ipt), as a selectable marker gene under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV 35S) promoter, were flanked by two loxP/FRT fusion sequences as recombination sites in direct orientation. Histochemical staining for GUS activity showed that, upon induction by heat shock, all exogenous DNA, including the selectable marker gene ipt, beta-glucuronidase (gusA) gene and the FLP recombinase gene, between two loxP/FRT sites was eliminated efficiently from primary transgenic tobacco plants. Molecular analysis further confirmed that excision of the marker gene (ipt) was heritable and stable. Our approach provides a reliable strategy for auto-excising a selectable marker gene from calli, shoots or other tissues of transgenic plants after transformation and producing marker-free transgenic plants.     

Introduction of stable high-copy-number DNA into Chinese hamster ovary cells by electroporation

A new gene transfer protocol has been developed that introduces up to 800 copies of an expression vector into Chinese hamster ovary cells in a single step by electroporation. The DNA typically integrates in tandem repeats so that the restriction endonuclease site used to linearize the input DNA remains intact. This is likely due to ligation of vector DNA via cohesive ends prior to integration. This high-copy-number procedure is far more rapid than the conventional stepwise gene amplification method used to generate stable eukaryotic protein production cell lines. By employing the expression vector pJODtPA, in which the selectable marker dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and the human tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) casettes are separated by a spacer and an RNA polymerase II terminator, cell lines secreting as much as 24 pg/cell.day tPA were isolated following electroporation and a single methotrexate selection. Gene copies and expression levels are stable over long periods of growth. A single round of gene amplification was performed following the high-copy-number procedure to yield a clone having a tPA production level of 45 pg/cell.day.     

柞蚕核型多角体病毒载体在培养细胞和休眠蛹中的基因表达效果

柞蚕核型多角体病毒（AnpeNPV）作为基因表达载体在柞蚕培养细胞（AnPe细胞）和柞蚕蛹中已经成功地表达出了外来基因,并生产出了大量蛋白质。本文比较了AnpeNPV与苜蓿尺蠖核型多角体病毒(AcMNPV)、家蚕核型多角体病毒(BmNPV)和美国白蛾核型多角体病毒(HycuNPV)基因表达载体在培养细胞和昆虫活体组织内的β-半乳糖苷酶基因表达效果。结果显示,5×105个细胞中β-半乳糖苷酶的最高酶活性分别是AnpeNPV在AnPe细胞为40.9 units/ml （TC-100培养液,FBS10%）和59.9 units/ml（SF-900Ⅱ培养液）,AcMNPV在Sf9细胞为72.4 units/ml（TC-100,FBS10%）和66.4 units/ml（SF-900Ⅱ）、在High5细胞为326 units/ml（EX-CELL 405培养液）,BmNPV在Bm4细胞为15.1 units/ml（TC-100,FBS10%）,HycuNPV在SpIm细胞为68.6 units/ml（SF-900Ⅱ）。活体组织内β-半乳糖苷酶的最高酶活性分别是柞蚕雌蛹为14.3 units/g、雄蛹为11.7 units/g,家蚕幼虫是10.1 units/g。实验证明AnpeNPV/AnPe的外来基因表达水平与AcMNPV/ Sf9和HycuNPV/SpIm相似、比BmNPV/ Bm4高、不及AcMNPV/ High5;AnpeNPV/柞蚕蛹,其雌蛹比BmNPV/家蚕5龄幼虫的外来基因表达效果好、雄蛹与之无明显差异,说明AnpeNPV基因表达载体无论是在培养细胞还是昆虫活体组织中均可与其他NPV基因表达载体相媲美。柞蚕蛹由于可以机械化、大规模地操作,显示对于大量生产蛋白质具有更好的应用前景。