人DAF基因在转基因小鼠中的遗传与表达

为研究人ＤＡＦ基因在小鼠体内遗传与表达的规律,从质粒ｐＳＦＦＶ－ＤＡＦ分离出一段包含人ＤＡＦ基因的ＤＮＡ片段。采用受精卵显微注射法建立转人ＤＡＦ基因小鼠。提取出生小鼠的染色体ＤＮＡ,经Ｄｏｔ－ｂｌｏｔ与Ｓｏｕｔｈｅｒｎ－ｂｌｏｔ杂交相结合确定首建转基因小鼠,并经Ｄｏｔ－ｂｌｏｔ杂交研究人ＤＡＦ基因在转基因小鼠体内的遗传特征,Ｎｏｒｔｈｅｒｎ杂交确定其表达情况。小鼠受精卵经基因导入后,共生出２４只小鼠,其中４只被确定为首建转基因小鼠,整合率为１５％,在首建转基因小鼠两两交配生出的Ｆ１代小鼠中分别有７０％和７５％继续携带人ＤＡＦ基因。首建转基因小鼠中有１只小鼠在ＲＮＡ水平表达了人ＤＡＦ基因。可见,人ＤＡＦ基因整合入小鼠基因组中,并能够稳定遗传及表达。     

RNAi技术在转基因动物中的应用

RNAi可以作为一种有效的工具用来产生转录后沉默的效果,从而抑制特定基因的表达,已经在线虫、果蝇、小鼠、大鼠等模式生物中得到成功应用。RNAi转基因小鼠的出现,使得在哺乳动物整体水平研究靶基因的敲低成为可能。文章以RNAi转基因小鼠为代表,就转基因载体的设计策略、基因敲除与基因敲低的比较、RNAi转基因动物的优势以及目前存在的缺陷等作一总结,并展望了RNAi转基因动物对功能基因组研究的贡献以及应用前景。

     

Prevention of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure by silencing of NF-kappaB

Activation of the nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling pathway may be associated with the development of cardiac hypertrophy and its transition to heart failure (HF). The transgenic Myo-Tg mouse develops hypertrophy and HF as a result of overexpression of myotrophin in the heart associated with an elevated level of NF-κB activity. Using this mouse model and an NF-κB-targeted gene array, we first determined the components of NF-κB signaling cascade and the NF-κB-linked genes that are expressed during the progression to cardiac hypertrophy and HF. Second, we explored the effects of inhibition of NF-κB signaling events by using a gene knockdown approach: RNA interference through delivery of a short hairpin RNA against NF-κB p65 using a lentiviral vector (L-sh-p65). When the short hairpin RNA was delivered directly into the hearts of 10-week-old Myo-Tg mice, there was a significant regression of cardiac hypertrophy, associated with a significant reduction in NF-κB activation and atrial natriuretic factor expression. Our data suggest, for the first time, that inhibition of NF-κB using direct gene delivery of sh-p65 RNA results in regression of cardiac hypertrophy. These data validate NF-κB as a therapeutic target to prevent hypertrophy/HF.     

Pol II–Expressed shRNA Knocks Down Sod2 Gene Expression and Causes Phenotypes of the Gene Knockout in Mice

RNA interference (RNAi) has been used increasingly for reverse genetics in invertebrates and mammalian cells, and has the potential to become an alternative to gene knockout technology in mammals. Thus far, only RNA polymerase III (Pol III)–expressed short hairpin RNA (shRNA) has been used to make shRNA-expressing transgenic mice. However, widespread knockdown and induction of phenotypes of gene knockout in postnatal mice have not been demonstrated. Previous studies have shown that Pol II synthesizes micro RNAs (miRNAs)—the endogenous shRNAs that carry out gene silencing function. To achieve efficient gene knockdown in mammals and to generate phenotypes of gene knockout, we designed a construct in which a Pol II (ubiquitin C) promoter drove the expression of an shRNA with a structure that mimics human miRNA miR-30a. Two transgenic lines showed widespread and sustained shRNA expression, and efficient knockdown of the target gene Sod2. These mice were viable but with phenotypes of SOD2 deficiency. Bigenic heterozygous mice generated by crossing these two lines showed nearly undetectable target gene expression and phenotypes consistent with the target gene knockout, including slow growth, fatty liver, dilated cardiomyopathy, and premature death. This approach opens the door of RNAi to a wide array of well-established Pol II transgenic strategies and offers a technically simpler, cheaper, and quicker alternative to gene knockout by homologous recombination for reverse genetics in mice and other mammalian species.     

Transgenic RNAi in mouse oocytes: The first decade

RNA interference (RNAi), a sequence-specific mRNA degradation induced by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), is a common approach employed to specifically silence genes. Experimental RNAi in plant and invertebrate models is frequently induced by long dsRNA. However, in mammals, short RNA molecules are used preferentially since long dsRNA can provoke sequence-independent type I interferon response. A notable exception are mammalian oocytes where the interferon response is suppressed and long dsRNA is a potent and specific trigger of RNAi. Transgenic RNAi is an adaptation of RNAi allowing for inducing sequence-specific silencing upon expression of dsRNA. A decade ago, we have developed a vector for oocyte-specific expression of dsRNA, which has been used to study gene function in mouse oocytes on numerous occasions. This review provides an overview and discusses benefits and drawbacks encountered by us and our colleagues while working with the oocytes-specific transgenic RNAi system.     

Expression of RNA-interference/antisense transgenes by the cognate promoters of target genes is a better gene-silencing strategy to study gene functions in rice

Antisense and RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene silencing systems are powerful reverse genetic methods for studying gene function. Most RNAi and antisense experiments used constitutive promoters to drive the expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes; however, several reports showed that constitutive promoters were not expressed in all cell types in cereal plants, suggesting that the constitutive promoter systems are not effective for silencing gene expression in certain tissues/organs. To develop an alternative method that complements the constitutive promoter systems, we constructed RNAi and/or antisense transgenes for four rice genes using a constitutive promoter or a cognate promoter of a selected rice target gene and generated many independent transgenic lines. Genetic, molecular, and phenotypic analyses of these RNAi/antisense transgenic rice plants, in comparison to previously-reported transgenic lines that silenced similar genes, revealed that expression of the cognate promoter-driven RNAi/antisense transgenes resulted in novel growth/developmental defects that were not observed in transgenic lines expressing constitutive promoter-driven gene-silencing transgenes of the same target genes. Our results strongly suggested that expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes by cognate promoters of target genes is a better gene-silencing approach to discovery gene function in rice.     

RNAi-mediated inhibition of gene function in the follicle cell layer of the Drosophila ovary

RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) has been reported to be an effective reverse genetic approach for studying gene function in various organisms. To assess RNAi as a means of examining genes expressed in ovarian follicle cells for their involvement in embryonic dorsal-ventral patterning, we tested the ability of transgenically expressed double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) directed against the dorsal group gene windbeutel to generate phenotypic effects in the progeny of expressing females. We observed that expression in follicle cells under the control of Gal4 transcribed from the strong and widely expressed alphaTub84B or Actin5C promoters led to efficient dorsalization of progeny embryos. Surprisingly, a variety of strongly expressed follicle cell-specific Gal4 enhancer trap lines failed to elicit an RNAi phenotype in combination with the windbeutel-specific dsRNA. These results stress the importance of careful choice of expression system and of conditions for use in transgenic RNAi-mediated studies of gene function.     

Small interfering RNA and gene silencing in transgenic mice and rats

After short duplexes of synthetic 21-23 nt RNAs (siRNA) were reported to be effective in silencing specific genes, a vector-based approach for siRNAs was demonstrated in mammalian cultured cell lines. However, the effect of RNA interference (RNAi) on various differentiated cells in live animals remains unknown. In this report, we demonstrate that transgenically supplied siRNA can silence ubiquitously expressed enhanced green fluorescent protein in every part of the mouse and rat body. These results suggest that transgenic RNAi could function as an alternative method of gene silencing by applying homologous recombination to embryonic stem (ES) cells, and should be successful even in species where ES cell lines remain unestablished.     

A transient transgenic RNAi strategy for rapid characterization of gene function during embryonic development

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful strategy for studying the phenotypic consequences of reduced gene expression levels in model systems. To develop a method for the rapid characterization of the developmental consequences of gene dysregulation, we tested the use of RNAi for "transient transgenic" knockdown of mRNA in mouse embryos. These methods included lentiviral infection as well as transposition using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) and PiggyBac (PB) transposable element systems. This approach can be useful for phenotypic validation of putative mutant loci, as we demonstrate by confirming that knockdown of Prdm16 phenocopies the ENU-induced cleft palate (CP) mutant, csp1. This strategy is attractive as an alternative to gene targeting in embryonic stem cells, as it is simple and yields phenotypic information in a matter of weeks. Of the three methodologies tested, the PB transposon system produced high numbers of transgenic embryos with the expected phenotype, demonstrating its utility as a screening method.     

Two primate-specific small non-protein-coding RNAs in transgenic mice: neuronal expression, subcellular localization and binding partners

In a rare occasion a single chromosomal locus was targeted twice by independent Alu-related retroposon insertions, and in both cases supported neuronal expression of the respective inserted genes encoding small non-protein coding RNAs (npcRNAs): BC200 RNA in anthropoid primates and G22 RNA in the Lorisoidea branch of prosimians. To avoid primate experimentation, we generated transgenic mice to study neuronal expression and protein binding partners for BC200 and G22 npcRNAs. The BC200 gene, with sufficient upstream flanking sequences, is expressed in transgenic mouse brain areas comparable to those in human brain, and G22 gene, with upstream flanks, has a similar expression pattern. However, when all upstream regions of the G22 gene were removed, expression was completely abolished, despite the presence of intact internal RNA polymerase III promoter elements. Transgenic BC200 RNA is transported into neuronal dendrites as it is in human brain. G22 RNA, almost twice as large as BC200 RNA, has a similar subcellular localization. Both transgenically expressed npcRNAs formed RNP complexes with poly(A) binding protein and the heterodimer SRP9/14, as does BC200 RNA in human. These observations strongly support the possibility that the independently exapted npcRNAs have similar functions, perhaps in translational regulation of dendritic protein biosynthesis in neurons of the respective primates.     

Single copy shRNA configuration for ubiquitous gene knockdown in mice

RNA interference through the expression of small hairpin RNA (shRNA) molecules has become a very promising tool in reverse mouse genetics as it may allow inexpensive and rapid gene function analysis in vivo. However, the prerequisites for ubiquitous and reproducible shRNA expression are not well defined. Here we show that a single copy shRNA-transgene can mediate body-wide gene silencing in mice when inserted in a defined locus of the genome. The most commonly used promoters for shRNA expression, H1 and U6, showed a comparably broad activity in this configuration. Taken together, the results define a novel approach for efficient interference with expression of defined genes in vivo. Moreover, we provide a rapid strategy for the production of gene knockdown mice combining recombinase mediated cassette exchange and tetraploid blastocyst complementation approaches.     

Coat color-tagged green mouse with EGFP expressed from the RNA polymerase II promoter

Laborious molecular genotyping and variegated gene expression are two widely encountered issues for transgenic mouse studies. To facilitate genotyping in the FVB/N albino background and to reduce variegated expression, we successfully generated double-tagged transgenic mice for direct visual genotyping with the coat color phenotype derived from tyrosinase cDNA driven by the tyrosinase promoter and with simultaneous high enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression driven by the promoter of RNA polymerase II large subunit gene. Incorporation of insulator into a transgene construct achieved high efficiency of transgene expression in more than 90% of the founders. EGFP was detected as early as the one-cell fertilized egg and lasted for the whole embryo development, as well as in all of the adult tissues examined. The coat color-tagged green mice offer opportunities in applications such as tissue transplantation, lineage tracing, chimera biology, RNA interference, and other transgenic studies.     

Heritable gene silencing in Drosophila using double-stranded RNA

RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) is a recently discovered method to determine gene function in a number of organisms, including plants, nematodes, Drosophila, zebrafish, and mice. Injection of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) corresponding to a single gene into organisms silences expression of the specific gene. Rapid degradation of mRNA in affected cells blocks gene expression. Despite the promise of RNAi as a tool for functional genomics, injection of dsRNA interferes with gene expression transiently and is not stably inherited. Consequently, use of RNAi to study gene function in the late stages of development has been limited. It is particularly problematic for development of disease models that reply on post-natal individuals. To circumvent this problem in Drosophila, we have developed a method to express dsRNA as an extended hairpin-loop RNA. This method has recently been successful in generating RNAi in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The hairpin RNA is expressed from a transgene exhibiting dyad symmetry in a controlled temporal and spatial pattern. We report that the stably inherited transgene confers specific interference of gene expression in embryos, and tissues that give rise to adult structures such as the wings, legs, eyes, and brain. Thus, RNAi can be adapted to study late-acting gene function in Drosophila. The success of this approach in Drosophila and C. elegans suggests that a similar approach may prove useful to study gene function in higher organisms for which transgenic technology is available.     

在活体小鼠中筛选IZP3基因RNAi有效靶位点的研究

ZP3作为精子结合的靶对象在卵母细胞受精中起着关键作用,也因此而成为研究哺乳动物受精机理的焦点。本研究参照新疆草原兔尾鼠卵透明带3（zonapellucida3 gene of Lagurus lagurus,IZP3）的mRNA,选择了针对IZP3 mRNA的3个区域合成寡聚核苷酸连接到干扰载体pGenesil-1上,构建了3个针对IZP3 mRNA的重组干扰载体,和pCDNA3-IZP3表达载体采用脂质体法共转染Hela细胞以及通过尾静脉大容量快速注射法（Hydrodynamics—based transfection method,HD法）共注射小鼠,半定量RT—PCR和real—timePCR检测Hela细胞和小鼠肝脏中IZP3mRNA的表达情况,以筛选干扰IZP3mRNA的有效靶位点。结果表明,通过HD法共注射干扰载体和表达载体后,外源基因mRNA在小鼠肝脏中的表达和共转染Hela细胞后在Hel。细胞中的表达情况是一致的,有2个干扰载体可以有效干扰IZP3mRNA的表达。研究还说明,利用HD法以小鼠作为实验材料筛选RNA干扰的有效靶位点是一条切实可行的方法。     

在活体小鼠中筛选lZP3基因RNAi有效靶位点的研究

ZP3作为精子结合的靶对象在卵母细胞受精中起着关键作用,也因此而成为研究哺乳动物受精机理的焦点。本研究参照新疆草原兔尾鼠卵透明带3(zonapellucida3geneofLaguruslagurus,lZP3)的mRNA,选择了针对lZP3mRNA的3个区域合成寡聚核苷酸连接到干扰载体pGenesil-1上,构建了3个针对lZP3mRNA的重组干扰载体,和pCDNA3-lZP3表达载体采用脂质体法共转染Hela细胞以及通过尾静脉大容量快速注射法(Hydrodynamics-basedtransfectionmethod,HD法)共注射小鼠,半定量RT-PCR和real-timePCR检测Hela细胞和小鼠肝脏中lZP3mRNA的表达情况,以筛选干扰lZP3mRNA的有效靶位点。结果表明,通过HD法共注射干扰载体和表达载体后,外源基因mRNA在小鼠肝脏中的表达和共转染Hela细胞后在Hela细胞中的表达情况是一致的,有2个干扰载体可以有效干扰lZP3mRNA的表达。研究还说明,利用HD法以小鼠作为实验材料筛选RNA干扰的有效靶位点是一条切实可行的方法。