Controlled and localized genetic manipulation in the brain

Brain structure and function are determined in part through experience and in part through our inherited genes. A powerful approach for unravelling the balance between activity-dependent neuronal plasticity and genetic programs is to directly manipulate the genome. Such molecular genetic studies have been greatly aided by the remarkable progress of large-scale genome sequencing efforts. Sophisticated mouse genetic manipulations allow targeted point-mutations, deletions and additions to the mouse genome. These can be regulated through inducible promoters expressing in genetically specified neuronal cell types. However, despite significant progress it remains difficult to target specific brain regions through transgenesis alone. Recent work suggests that transduction vectors, like lentiviruses and adeno-associated viruses, may provide suitable additional tools for localized and controlled genetic manipulation. Furthermore, studies with such vectors may aid the development of human genetic therapies for brain diseases.     

鱼类基因转移育种的几个问题

１９８５年,世界上第一批转基因鱼诞生。随后,鱼类基因转移迅速应用到培育高产、优质和抗逆的养殖鱼类新品种,并在解决发育生物学分子生物学和生理学等方面的难题中发挥了重要作用。目前,研究者已经建立了三种成熟的鱼类基因转移方法,即显微注射、电脉冲和精子携带法,证实了转移大受体鱼基因组中的整合、性腺传递、表达和转译表达产物的生物活性。最近,“全鱼”生长激素（ＧＨ）基因的克隆与应用,使快速生长转ＧＨ基因鱼的研     

哺乳动物克隆的研究进展与应用前景

显微注射技术本身固有的缺点在很大程度上限制了转基因动物的研究及应用。近年来,体细胞基因打靶和体细胞克隆的最新研究进展表明,这两种技术相结合将成为制备大型转基因动物的有效途径。     

鱼类的胚胎干细胞

胚胎干细胞(ES)是未分化的细胞培养物，来自动物的早期胚胎。它们能成为稳定的细胞系和长期冻存。在适当的条件下，ES细胞能分化成各种细胞类型，包括生殖细胞。这样，ES细胞就提供了一个有效的纽带，将动物基因组的体外和体内遗传操作连系起来。ES细胞的魅力就由其在产生和分析基因敲除老鼠中显现出来。目前，ES细胞技术仅见之老鼠，因其它脊椎动物的ES细胞的培养和建系难获成功。在鱼类，人们已做了大量的尝试。我们以青鳉(Oryzias latipes)作为建立鱼类ES细胞技术的模式，通过建立并应用无滋养层细胞的培养条件，获得了来自中期囊胚的ES细胞系。青鳉的ES细胞和老鼠的ES细胞有很多共同特征，如二倍体核型、分化潜力和形成嵌合体。因此，在鱼类建立和应用ES细胞技术是可能的。青鳉ES细胞的培养条件已成功地应用到其它鱼类如斑马鱼甚至海水鱼。本文旨在以青鳉为模式，综述获得和应用模式鱼和经济鱼ES细胞的主要进展和前景。     

Forced MyHCIIB expression following targeted genetic manipulation of conditionally immortalized muscle precursor cells

The ability to carry out gene targeting in somatic stem cells while maintaining their stem cell characteristics would have important implications for gene therapy and for the analysis of gene function. Using mouse myoblasts, we have explored this possibility by attempting to alter the promoter of a myosin heavy chain gene (MyHCIIB) characteristic of physiologically "fast" muscle so as to force its unscheduled expression in physiologically "slow" muscle fibers. Conditionally immortalized muscle precursor cells were transfected with a gene targeting construct designed to replace the MyHCIIB promoter with that for the carbonic anhydrase III gene (CAIII), which is highly expressed in slow muscle. A potentially targeted clone was isolated and differentiated in culture to form myotubes which expressed MyHCIIB. Cells from the same clone were injected into both slow and fast muscle of host mice, where they contributed to fiber formation. In slow muscle, the fibers derived from this clone did not express MyHCIIB; this may reflect an instability of the targeted MyHCIIB locus and/or a failure of the hybrid promoter to function in slow fibers in vivo. Nonetheless, we have demonstrated that a "promoter knock-in" gene targeting procedure can be used to generate unique MyHCIIB-expressing myotubes in culture and that conditionally immortalized myoblasts can be subjected to extensive passaging and genetic manipulation without losing their ability to form fibers in culture and in vivo.     

我国转基因鱼研制的历史回顾与展望

中国自从诞生了首例转基因鱼以来,在后续30多年里取得了一系列重要研究进展。全球范围的转基因鱼研究包括多种养殖鱼类,目标性状涉及快速生长、抗病抗逆和品质改良。现在已经初步建成转基因鱼育种技术体系和安全评估体系,为转基因鱼产业化奠定了重要基础。本文以转基因黄河鲤育种研究为主线,简要回顾了转基因鱼研究的发展历程,并对转基因鱼育种面临的问题和发展前景进行了分析和展望。     

Nuclear and chloroplast transformation inChlamydomonas reinhardtii: strategies for genetic manipulation and gene expression

Transformation of the nuclear, chloroplast, and mitochondrial genomes can now be accomplished inChlamydomonas reinhardtii. Many biosynthetic pathways are carried out in the chloroplast, and efforts to manipulate these pathways will require that gene products be directed to this compartment. Chloroplast proteins are encoded in either the chloroplast or nuclear genome. In the latter case they are synthesized in the cytoplasm and imported post-translationally into the chloroplast. Thus, strategies for expressing foreign genes or overexpressing endogenous genes whose products reside in the chloroplast could involve either genome. This paper reviews the present status of transformation methodology for the nuclear and chloroplast genomes inChlamydomonas. Considerations for expressing gene products in the chloroplast are discussed. Experimental evidence for homologous recombination during transformation of the nuclear genome is presented.     

转基因技术在制备动物乳腺生物反应器中的应用和发展

利用乳腺生物反应器可以高效获得安全、足量的药用蛋白,在制药工业中具有广阔的应用前景。但是,目前采用的转基因技术由于其各自固有的局限性,未能使乳腺生物反应器的研究取得长足的进步。基因打靶技术和核移植技术的发展为乳腺生物反应器的开发注入了新的活力。本文综合近年来国内外文献,阐述了各种转基因技术的优点与缺陷,同时说明了构建“体细胞打靶-克隆技术体系”在制备大动物的乳腺生物反应器中的必要性。     

Production of alpha 1,3-galactosyltransferase gene knockout pigs expressing both human decay-accelerating factor and N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III

Heterozygous alpha 1,3-galactosyltransferase (GT) gene knockout pigs were produced with transgenic pig fetal cells expressing both human decay-accelerating factor (hDAF) and N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III (GnT-III). In this study, we assessed the gene targeting efficiency in the transgenic pig fetal cells derived from different fetal tissues such as brain, skin, heart, and liver, or fetal carcass. Targeted cell colonies were selected by hygromycin B. The GT-knockout colonies (KO colonies) were obtained equally from the cells derived from all tissues except liver. Staining with five antibodies against intermediate filaments, all examined KO cell lines stained positive for vimentin with the exception of a colony that stained positive for both vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein simultaneously. This is the first study to produce KO cells from the astrocytes. Some of these KO cell lines were used for nuclear transfer (NT) to obtain KO pig fetuses. Fourteen fetuses were obtained from two recipients of the embryo transfer and eight of them had normal ploidy. The cells from the KO pig fetuses were also used for NT to produce cloned KO pigs. Two healthy clone pigs were born. These pigs were determined to have a heterozygous knockout GT gene and the two transgenes. The cells collected from the KO pigs were shown to have similar expression levels of hDAF and GnT-III compared to their original transgenic pigs and less than a half levels of the alphaGal epitopes existed in wild-type pig cells.     

综述: 大鼠胚胎干细胞遗传操作技术的研究进展

大鼠胚胎干细胞(ES)的成功建立使大鼠的遗传学操作成为可能,运用同源重组原理改造ES细胞的基因,为建立时空特异性的基因敲除大鼠模型提供了基础.本文主要回顾了大鼠ES细胞的建立过程,总结了大鼠ES的培养、鉴定技术,分析了各种大鼠基因敲除技术的优劣势和未来前景.在干细胞研究蓬勃发展的背景下,作为最有效地定向修饰基因的技术手段,基于大鼠ES细胞的基因敲除技术将在揭示基因的生理功能、研究人类疾病的遗传机制以及寻找新药物靶标的过程中发挥更加重要的作用.     

The dinoflagellates Pfiesteria shumwayae and Luciella masanensis cause fish kills in recirculation fish farms in Denmark

Fish kills in two geographically separate fish farms in northern Denmark in 2012, one using marine, the other brackish water ‘Recirculation Aquaculture Systems’ (RAS), were found to be caused by Pfiesteria shumwayae and Luciella masanensis, two species of dinoflagellates belonging to the family Pfiesteriaceae. There were no other harmful algae present in either of the aquaculture plants. Serious fish kills in the US have been attributed to Pfiesteria during the past 20 years, but this type of mortality has not been documented elsewhere. L. masanensis, described recently from Korea and USA, has not been previously reported to be the source of fish kills. In the marine farm, the affected fish was rainbow trout, in the brackish water farm pikeperch. Light microscopy is presently insufficient to discriminate between the approx. 20 species of the family Pfiesteriaceae described. Identification of the two algal species was therefore based on molecular sequencing of nuclear-encoded LSU rDNA, confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and, eventually, also by examination of the very thin amphiesmal plates of the flagellates by calcofluor-stained cells in a fluorescence microscope.Although the two fish farms differed in light and salinity conditions, both farms used re-circulating water in closed circuit systems. The dinoflagellates were examined in detail and shown to feed on organic material such as live, damaged nematodes, as described for the single pfiesteriacean flagellate known from freshwater, Tyrannodinium edax. Algal cells were observed to attach to their prey by an attachment filament and subsequently used a peduncle to suck up the food. Fish farms utilizing water recirculation technology are gaining popularity due to their reduced effect on the environment. The two cases from Denmark are apparently the first RAS farms in which serious fish kills have been reported. In the marine farm (Luciella) fish mortality increased dramatically despite treatment of the water with peracetic acid and chloramine-T. The plant was temporarily closed down pending investigation into the cause of mortality and subsequently to determine a method of management to control the dinoflagellate and avoid future fish kills. In the brackish water farm (Pfiesteria), water was treated with chloramine-T, which caused the dinoflagellates to disappear temporarily from the water column, apparently forming temporary cysts. The treatment was repeated after a few days to a week, when the temporary cysts appeared to germinate and the dinoflagellates reappeared in the water column.     

转基因鱼的研究进展与商业化前景

转基因技术为鱼类育种开辟了新的途径。目前已培育出转生长激素基因鲤、鲑和罗非鱼,转荧光蛋白基因斑马鱼与唐鱼等可稳定遗传的转基因鱼品系,其中快长转生长激素基因鱼的获得对于提高水产养殖的产量与养殖效益具有十分重要的意义。文章简要综述了转基因鱼应用研究的成就、相关技术及生态安全方面的研究进展。显微注射仍是目前基因转植的常用方法,应用转座酶或巨核酸酶介导的转基因新技术可提高基因转植效率与整合率。转基因元件的选择应尽量考虑"全鱼"基因或"自源"基因,以减少转基因鱼食用安全方面的顾虑同时也有利于转植基因的表达与生理功效的发挥。生态安全是转基因鱼商用化面临的最大问题。虽然有研究显示转基因鱼与传统的选育鱼类相比适合度较差,但由于环境与基因型间的相互作用,根据实验室获得的转基因鱼对生态影响的结果,难以预测转基因鱼一旦逃逸会对自然水生态环境产生怎样的影响。因此应建立高度自然化的环境以获得可靠的数据客观评价生态风险,有效的物理拦截、不育化处理等生物学控制策略仍是保证转基因鱼安全应用的关键措施。     

体细胞基因打靶制备动物乳腺生物反应器的策略与应用

在转基因动物研究中,由于基因表达调控元件的人工拼接和外源基因在动物基因组中随机整合所带来的“位置效应”,致使转基因动物外源基因的表达水平不高并且差异较大。为此,利用定位整合优势,对以基因同源重组为基础的基因打靶技术进行了大量研究。介绍了就利用体细胞基因打靶和核移植技术制备动物乳腺生物反应器的策略和应用情况做一综述,并对提高基因打靶效率的各种策略,打靶细胞的选择,转基因细胞核移植的低融合事件以及基因打靶制备乳腺生物反应器的优越性进行分析。     

鱼类细胞核移植的历史回顾与讨论

介绍60年代以来主要是中国在鱼类克隆研究中所获得的实验进展和成果,包括迄今只能在鱼类中得到的,具有发育“全能性”的核质杂种克隆鱼,和早在80年代初中国就已报道过用体细胞核移植所获得的“克隆鱼”,其记录要比“多莉羊”的报道早15年之久。本文还对过去36年中所获得的有关实验结果进行了分析和讨论并试图联系其它“克隆动物“对其发展前景作些探讨。     

在小鼠胚胎干细胞进行基因打靶的策略

基因打靶技术是一种通过同源重组按预期方式改变生物活体的遗传信息的实验手段,与小鼠胚胎干细胞培养系统相结合,使得人们可以方便地将各种突变引入小鼠体内,得以从生物整体水平上研究高等真核生物基因的表达、调控及其生理功能.扼要介绍了近年来在小鼠胚胎干细胞进行基因打靶的研究进展.     

Metabolic-morphologic characteristics of the integument of teleost fish with mature lymphocystis nodules

Summary Normal and virus-infected (lymphocystis disease) integument from five species of teleosts was examined by light and TEM autoradiography and SEM to establish metabolic-morphologic characteristics of integument with mature lymphocystis cells (LC's). LC's with numerous morphologic attributes of a late developmental stage showed highest incorporation of [³H]-thymidine in vivo (1–91 h) above the intracytoplasmic inclusion body (ci) with little radiolabel in nuclei, cytoplasmic icosahedral deoxyriboviruses (ICDVs) or capsule. Analysis by quantitative autoradiography revealed that the % total cell label in ci and cytoplasm did not vary appreciably from 1–91 h and was corroborative with morphologic criteria of maturity. A possible phylogenetic difference was noted between teleosts, wherein normal integument showed uptake of [³H]-thymidine in vivo (1 h) by cells at all levels of the epidermis, and cyclostomes (Spitzer et al. 1979) wherein labeling was confined to the basal third of the epidermis. Among four infected teleost species, the mean diameters of the ICDVs measured under the same conditions, ranged from 259.5 nm to 290.0 nm with the mean for each species differing significantly (p < 0.01) from each of the other means. Ruptured LC's were shown by TEM and SEM to have released ICDVs onto the lesions and integument. Various stages of LC degeneration, host response, and integumental repair processes were documented. An evaluation of labeling in vivo of the capsular matrix was compatible ([³H]-D-galactose> [³H]-L-lysine [³H]-L-fucose) with a glycosaminoglycan-protein structure.     

Progress in the evaluation of transgenic fish for possible ecological risk and its containment strategies

Genetically improved transgenic fish possess many beneficial economic traits; however, the commercial aquaculture of transgenic fish has not been performed till date. One of the major reasons for this is the possible ecological risk associated with the escape or release of the transgenic fish. Using a growth hormone transgenic fish with rapid growth characteristics as a subject, this paper analyzes the following: the essence of the potential ecological risks posed by transgenic fish; ecological risk in the current situation due to transgenic fish via one-factor phenotypic and fitness analysis, and mathematical model deduction. Then, it expounds new ideas and the latest findings using an artificially simulated ecosystem for the evaluation of the ecological risks posed by transgenic fish. Further, the study comments on the strategies and principles of controlling these ecological risks by using a triploid approach. Based on these results, we propose that ecological risk evaluation and prevention strategies are indispensable important components and should be accompanied with breeding research in order to provide enlightments for transgenic fish breeding, evaluation of the ecological risks posed by transgenic fish, and development of containment strategies against the risks.