Recombinant glutathione S-transferase (GST) expressing cells purified by flow cytometry on the basis of a GST-catalyzed intracellular conjugation of glutathione to monochlorobimane.

COS cells transiently expressing glutathione S-transferase (GST) pi, Ya, or Yb1 (human Pi, rat Alpha or Mu, cytosolic classes) were purified by flow cytometry and used in colony-forming assays to show that GST confers cellular resistance to the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (+/-)-anti-diol epoxide (anti-BPDE). We developed a sorting technique to viably separate recombinant GST+ cells (20%) from the nonexpressing electroporated population (80%) on the basis of a GST-catalyzed intracellular conjugation of glutathione to the fluorescent labeling reagent monochlorobimane (mClB). The concentration of mClB, length of time cells are exposed to mClB, and activity of the expressed GST isozyme determined the degree to which recombinant GST+ cells fluoresced more intensely than controls. On-line reagent addition ensured that all cells were exposed to 25 microM mClB for 30-35 s during transit before being analyzed for fluorescence intensity and sorted. The apparent Km for mClB of the endogenous COS cell GST-catalyzed intracellular reaction was 88 microM. Stained GST Ya+ or Yb1+ cells catalyzed the conjugation 2 or 5 times more effectively than GST pi+ cells. Enzyme activity in cytosolic fractions prepared from sorted recombinant GST+ cells was 1.8 +/- 0.3-fold greater than that of the control (80 +/- 4 nmol/min/mg protein). Upon a 5-fold purification of GST pi+ cells in the electroporated population, resistance to anti-BPDE in colony-forming assays increased 5 times, from 1.1-fold (unsorted) to 1.5-fold (sorted) (P less than 0.001).     

High-efficiency gene transfection by in situ electroporation of cultured cells

It is demonstrated in this study that high-efficiency gene transfection can be obtained by directly electroporating cultured mammalian cells in their attached state using a pulsed radio-frequency (RF) electric field. A plasmid DNA containing the reporter gene beta-gal was introduced into COS-M6 cells and CV-1 cells using this in situ electroporation method. At the optimal electric field strength (1.2 kV/cm), we found that over 80% of the M6 cells took up and expressed the beta-gal gene with a cell survival rate of about 50%. In contrast, the transfection efficiency was less than 20% when the M6 cells were electroporated in suspension. It was shown that CV-1 cells could also be electroporated highly efficiently using the in situ method. Furthermore, we have measured the time required to express the beta-gal gene after the plasmid DNA was introduced. We found that the percentage of cells expressing beta-gal reached a peak value about 10 h after electroporation. This time-course was the same for both attached and suspended cells, suggesting that the observed difference in transfection efficiency was mainly the result of effects of the detachment treatment on the electroporation process rather than on the gene expression.     

Transient Transfection of Oligodendrocyte Progenitors by Electroporation

The transient transfection of transgenes into oligodendrocytes offers an important tool for studying the function of proteins during myelin formation. Currently established procedures, however, have generally resulted in low survival rates and low levels of uptake of the transgene into primary oligodendrocyte progenitors. We describe an electroporation method which yields transient transfection of oligodendrocyte progenitors of up to 10–15% of the surviving cells, and provides approximately 10⁴ surviving, transfected cells per electroporation reaction. In recent applications transgene expression persisted as the transfected progenitors progressed through subsequent stages of the oligodendrocyte lineage. This technique is expected to facilitate the study of the function of key proteins and lipids during the development of primary cultured oligodendrocytes.     

Maximal Expression of Recombinant cDNAs in COS Cells for Use in Expression Cloning

In the process of establishing an expression cloning system for cell surface receptors we examined parameters which influence the expression of foreign genes in COS cells. The bacterial β-galactosidase gene was chosen as a reporter gene, since it permits the determination of (i) the fraction of cells transfected as well as (ii) the total activity of the synthesized enzyme in parallel experiments. This renders it possible to calculate the enzyme activity per individual cell. In transfected COS cells, the plasmid pXMgal directed a 20- and 10-fold higher β-galactosidase activity than pCH110 and pCDLgal, respectively. DEAE-dextran-mediated DNA uptake and protoplast fusion were found to result in higher expression rates than lipofection and electroporation. A coincubation of the cells with chloroquine during the DEAE-dextran transfection protocol caused, as reported, an increase of β-galactosidase positive cells but considerably reduced the total β-galactosidase activity. However, a 10% DMSO shock at the end of the transfection procedure simultaneously increased the number of transfected cells and the total β-galactosidase activity, thus maintaining the high expression per single cell. Using these optimized conditions, COS-1 cells expressed higher amounts of recombinant protein than COS-7 cells.     

In Vitro Targeted Gene Electrotransfer to Endothelial Cells with Plasmid DNA Containing Human Endothelin-1 Promoter

Development of recombinant DNA technologies has allowed us to create new delivery systems that target specific cell types and that can be used in gene therapy. One of these targets is vascular endothelium because of its important role in tumor angiogenesis. For tumor endothelium-specific targeting, we prepared plasmid DNA encoding green fluorescent protein under the control of human endothelin-1 promoter (pENDO-EGFP), which is specific for endothelial cells. First we determined gene electrotransfer parameters for improved transfection of endothelial cells evaluating different osmolarity of electroporation buffer, voltages of applied electric pulses, and addition of fetal bovine serum immediately after electroporation to the cells for improved transfection and survival. Transfection efficacy of pENDO-EGFP in different endothelial and nonendothelial cell lines was determined next. Gene electrotransfer efficacy was evaluated using three different methods: fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence microplate reader, and flow cytometry. Our results showed that transfection efficacy was higher when cells were prepared in hypoosmolar compared to isoosmolar electroporation buffer. Furthermore, immediate addition of fetal bovine serum to the cells after pulsing also improved gene electrotransfer into target cells. We proved expression of EGFP under the control of human endothelin-1 promoter in endothelial cells, which was also significantly higher compared to nonendothelial cells. Taken together, we successfully constructed pENDO-EGFP, which was specifically expressed in endothelial cells using improved gene electrotransfer parameters.     

日本血吸虫26kD抗原基因在BCG中的表达

研究了外源基因日本血吸虫２６ｋＤ抗原（Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ）在卡介苗（ｂａｃｉｌｕｓＣａｌｍｅｔｅ－Ｇｕｅｒｉｎ,ＢＣＧ）、耻垢分枝杆菌（Ｍ．ｓｍｅｇｍａｔｉｓ）和大肠杆菌（Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉ）中的表达．运用重组ＤＮＡ和聚合酶链反应（ＰＣＲ）等分子生物学技术,以表达Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ的Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉｐＧＥＸ衍生质粒为模板,经ＰＣＲ得到编码Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ的全长ｃＤＮＡ片段．将其按正确的阅读框顺序,克隆到人结核杆菌热休克蛋白（ｈｅａｔｓｈｏｃｋｐｒｏｔｅｉｎ,ＨＳＰ）７０的启动子下游,再将ＨＳＰ７０启动子和Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ基因一起亚克隆到Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉ－分枝杆菌穿梭质粒ｐＢＣＧ－２０００中,得到Ｅ．ｃｏｌｉ－分枝杆菌穿梭表达质粒ｐＢＣＧ－Ｓｊ２６．ｐＢＣＧ－Ｓｊ２６电转化入ＢＣＧ和Ｍ．ｓｍｅｇｍａｔｉｓｍｃ２１５５中表达Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ抗原,所表达的天然重组Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ（ｒＳｊ２６ＧＳＴ）为可溶性蛋白,在ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ上分子量为２６ｋＤ处可见明显的表达蛋白带．其表达量分别占ＢＣＧ和Ｍ．ｓｍｅｇｍａｔｉｓ菌体总蛋白的１５％和１０％．可见,Ｓｊ２６ＧＳＴ基因能在ＢＣＧ中高效表达．     

Colony formation by subpopulations of human T lymphocytes. VI. Further studies on colony phenotype, function, and cloning efficiency

Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced colony formation in semisolid agar medium by human peripheral blood T lymphocytes showed an increasing cloning efficiency with decreasing numbers of cultured cells. Ninety percent of CD4+ cells (inducer/helper phenotype) and 20% of CD8+ cells (cytotoxic/suppressor phenotype) formed colonies when cultured at 10-200 cells/ml culture in the presence of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and a source of interleukin-2 (IL-2). Probably all T-colony-forming cells, but none of the subsequent colony cells, expressed the Leu-8 antigen. The cloning efficiencies of FACS-sorted cells expressing the natural killer antigenic phenotypes Leu-7+ and CD16+ were found to be less than 1%. The costimulatory effect of red blood cells for colony formation was specific for SRBC and not observed in the presence of red cells obtained from seven other species including man. All T-lymphocyte colonies obtained from unseparated peripheral blood mononuclear cells expressed the CD25 antigen (IL-2 receptor) and colonies were always composed of either CD4+ or CD8+ cells. None of the colony cells expressed the Leu-8 or the CD16 antigens. By their specific morphology in agar culture the majority of colonies composed of CD4+ cells were easily recognized, but but approximately one-third of the CD4+ colonies could not be distinguished from colonies composed of CD8+ cells. On expansion of individual colonies in liquid subculture in the presence of interleukin-2, approximately 15% of the colonies developed natural killer (NK)-like cytotoxic activity, being capable of direct killing of K562 tumor cells. It is concluded that the present method for growing human T colonies exhibits the same cloning efficiency as the most efficient liquid culture systems. Individual T colonies are composed exclusively of T inducer/helper or T cytotoxic/suppressor cells, they are never of mixed phenotype, and they do not contain cells of natural killer phenotype. Regulatory mechanisms influencing colony formation are operating between and within the various subsets of T lymphocytes.     

Transformation of the phytopathogenic bacterium Clavibacter michiganense subsp. michiganense by electroporation and development of a cloning vector.

We constructed a cloning vector for use in the plant pathogenic bacterium Clavibacter michiganense subsp. michiganense. The vector pDM100 consists of a 3.2-kb restriction fragment of the Clavibacter plasmid pCM1 joined to a pBR325 derivative carrying the neomycin phosphotransferase of transposon Tn5 and the gentamicin acetyltransferase of Tn1696. Both antibiotic resistance genes are efficiently expressed in C. michiganense subsp. michiganense. Although polyethylene glycol-mediated transfection of spheroplasts with the DNA of the C. michiganense subsp. michiganense-specific bacteriophage CMP1 yielded about 3 x 10(3) transfectants per microgram of DNA, in transformations with plasmid DNA only a very few transformants were obtained. However, the transformation efficiency could be improved by electroporation of intact cells, giving about 2 x 10(3) transformants per microgram of plasmid DNA. Since a transformation procedure and a cloning vector are now available, pathogenicity in C. michiganense subsp. michiganense can now be analyzed genetically.     

Rescue of a Chlamydomonas inner-arm-dynein-deficient mutant by electroporation-mediated delivery of recombinant p28 light chain

We have recently shown that rabbit actin can be introduced by electroporation into the Chlamydomonas ida5 mutant lacking conventional actin and rescue its mutant phenotype [Hayashi et al., 2001: Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 49:146-153]. In this study, we explored the possibility of using electroporation for functional assay of a recombinant protein. The p28 light chain of inner-arm dyneins was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity, and introduced by electroporation into a non-motile mutant ida4oda6 that lacks it. Because this protein was insoluble in the low ionic strength solution used in the previous study, electroporation was performed at physiological ionic strength in the presence of Ca(2+). Most cells shed their flagella after electroporation. Reflagellation took place within 3 h and up to 30% of the cells became motile, indicating that the introduced p28 retained its functional activity. Fluorescently-labeled p28 was equally effective; in this case fluorescence was observed along the flagella. The presence of Ca(2+) and deflagellation appeared to be important for efficient protein delivery, because a triple mutant with the fa1 mutation deficient in the flagellar shedding mechanism recovered motility only very poorly. Similar results were obtained with other combinations of recombinant proteins and mutants. This study thus demonstrates the feasibility of using electroporation for activity assays of recombinant proteins.     

Isolation and characterization of HeLa cell lines blocked at different steps in the poliovirus life cycle.

Cotransfection of poliovirus RNA and R1, a poliovirus subgenomic RNA containing a deletion of nearly all of the capsid region, resulted in surviving cells, in contrast to the complete cell death observed after transfection with viral RNA. Cells that survived the cotransfection grew into colonies, produced infectious poliovirus, and underwent cycles of cell lysis (crisis periods) where less than 1% of the cells survived, followed by periods of growth. Poliovirus evolved during the persistent infection as judged by changes in plaque size. After passage for 6 months, a stable line called SOFIA emerged that no longer produced infectious virus and did not contain viral proteins or viral RNA. Cells frozen in liquid N2 while still in crisis and recultured 4 months later (named SOFIA N2) were also stabilized. After infection with poliovirus, SOFIA N2 cells showed a delay in the development of cytopathic effect, viral production, and cellular death when compared with HeLa cells. In contrast, SOFIA cells did not develop cytopathic effect and produced 10,000 times less virus than SOFIA N2 or HeLa cells. Viral production was delayed in SOFIA and SOFIA N2 cells transfected with poliovirus RNA when compared with HeLa cells, suggesting the presence of an intracellular block to poliovirus replication. Analysis of the cellular receptor for poliovirus by virus binding, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and in situ rosette assays with an antireceptor monoclonal antibody showed that receptors were expressed in SOFIA N2 cells but not in SOFIA cells. Echovirus 6, an enterovirus which uses a different cellular receptor, formed small plaques on SOFIA cells. Vesicular stomatitis virus formed plaques of similar size on SOFIA and HeLa cells, suggesting that the intracellular block was specific for enteroviruses. Cotransfection of the subgenomic replicon R1 with poliovirion RNA therefore resulted in the selection of HeLa cell variants containing blocks to poliovirus replication at the level of receptor and within the cell.     

Transformation of protoplasts and intact cells from slowly growing embryogenic callus of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

A procedure for culturing protoplasts from slowly growing embryogenic calli of wheat was developed. The procedure was dependent on the ability to isolate large numbers of culturable protoplasts from slowly growing embryogenic callus. Approximately 68% of the isolated protoplasts divided, and 22% formed colonies; of the latter, 67% continued to proliferate. Plating efficiency was reduced when protoplasts were transformed by polythylene glycol, electroporation, and/or Agrobacterium. Intact cells were also directly transformed by electroporation. Direct electroporation of the Agrobacterium binary vector into intact cells resulted in a significant increase of GUS activity over the control.     

重组阳离子抗肿瘤肽AIK的原核表达、纯化及活性测定

利用Gateway克隆技术构建重组抗瘤肽AIK的原核表达体系,建立表达及纯化重组AIK的最优条件,为深入研究和利用AIK奠定基础。首先,设计含AttB重组位点的引物,通过重叠PCR技术扩增出Att B-TEV-FLAG-AIK序列,利用BP重组反应将目的序列TEV-FLAG-AIK克隆到供体载体pDONR223中,构建入门载体,再通过LR重组反应,将目的序列转移到目的载体pDEST15中,构建GST-AIK融合蛋白原核表达质粒。随后,在BL21(DE3)工程菌中优化诱导融合蛋白表达的条件。以谷胱甘肽磁珠纯化GST-AIK融合蛋白,再以rTEV酶切除GST,获得FLAG-AIK重组蛋白。最后以MTS法检测FLAG-AIK对白血病细胞HL-60的细胞毒性。菌液PCR验证和测序分析表明成功构建了重组抗瘤肽AIK的入门质粒和原核表达质粒。在BL21(DE3)工程菌中实现了GST-AIK融合蛋白的高效可溶性表达。并测得在37℃下以0.1 mmol/L IPTG诱导工程菌(OD600=1.0)4 h,重组蛋白表达量占菌体总蛋白的30%以上。经GST亲和层析、rTEV酶切除GST标签及二次GST亲和层析获得纯度高于95%的FLAG-AIK蛋白。MTS法测得所制备的FLAG-AIK蛋白抑瘤活性与化学合成的AIK相当。总之,本课题应用Gateway克隆系统成功构建了抗瘤肽AIK的原核表达质粒,实现了GST-AIK融合蛋白的高效可溶性表达,经亲和层析获得了有生物活性的重组AIK多肽,为后续深入研究和大规模制备奠定了基础。     

利用家蚕杆状病毒表达家蚕肌质网型钙离子ATP酶蛋白

肌质网型钙离子ATP酶(Sacro/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase,Serca)负责将细胞中多余的Ca2+转运并存储于内质网中,从而维持细胞内适宜的Ca2+环境。家蚕Serca创造的细胞内及细胞外Ca2+平衡对家蚕正常生命活动的维持具有重要作用。由于Serca分子量较大并具有10次跨膜结构,很难在大肠杆菌表达系统中表达。为了获得具有生物学活性的重组Serca蛋白,利用p Fast Bac Dual载体构建了用于表达egfp和serca的双元杆状病毒表达载体,转染细胞后获得重组病毒,将重组病毒感染细胞后,成功地在细胞中表达了EGFP和Serca。通过荧光观察及Western blotting分析表明,感染后细胞中Serca和EGFP表达模式一致,从感染后48 h开始表达,在感染后96 h表达量最大。对获得的重组蛋白进行酶活分析,发现感染后48 h至120 h的细胞Serca酶活显著提高。表明具有生物学活性的Serca在此系统中成功获得表达,为深入研究Serca蛋白的功能奠定了基础。     

Cattle mammary bioreactor generated by a novel procedure of transgenic cloning for large-scale production of functional human lactoferrin

Large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals by current bioreactor techniques is limited by low transgenic efficiency and low expression of foreign proteins. In general, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) harboring most regulatory elements is capable of overcoming the limitations, but transferring BAC into donor cells is difficult. We describe here the use of cattle mammary bioreactor to produce functional recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) by a novel procedure of transgenic cloning, which employs microinjection to generate transgenic somatic cells as donor cells. Bovine fibroblast cells were co-microinjected for the first time with a 150-kb BAC carrying the human lactoferrin gene and a marker gene. The resulting transfection efficiency of up to 15.79 x 10(-2) percent was notably higher than that of electroporation and lipofection. Following somatic cell nuclear transfer, we obtained two transgenic cows that secreted rhLF at high levels, 2.5 g/l and 3.4 g/l, respectively. The rhLF had a similar pattern of glycosylation and proteolytic susceptibility as the natural human counterpart. Biochemical analysis revealed that the iron-binding and releasing properties of rhLF were identical to that of native hLF. Importantly, an antibacterial experiment further demonstrated that rhLF was functional. Our results indicate that co-microinjection with a BAC and a marker gene into donor cells for somatic cell cloning indeed improves transgenic efficiency. Moreover, the cattle mammary bioreactors generated with this novel procedure produce functional rhLF on an industrial scale.     

Efficient transfection of dissociated mouse chromaffin cells using small-volume electroporation

We have developed an improved procedure for isolating and transfecting a chromaffin cell-enriched population of primary cells from adult mouse adrenal glands. Significantly, the parameters of a novel electroporation transfection technique were optimized to achieve an average transfection efficiency of 45 % on the small number of cells derived from the mouse glands. Such transfection efficiency was previously unachievable with the electroporation protocols conventionally used with bovine chromaffin cells, even with use of large cell numbers. Our small scale technique now makes feasible the use of genetically homogenous inbred mouse models for investigations on the exocytotic pathway without the time, expense, and cellular changes associated with viral approaches. High fidelity co-expression of multiple plasmids in individual cells is a further advantage of the procedure. To assess whether the biophysical characteristics of mouse adrenal chromaffin cells were altered by this process, we examined structural integrity using immunocytochemistry and functional response to stimuli using calcium imaging, amperometry, and whole-cell capacitance and current clamp recordings. We conclude these parameters are minimally affected. Finally, we demonstrate that high transfection efficiency makes possible the use of primary mouse adrenal chromaffin cells, rather than a cell line, in human growth hormone secretion assays for high throughput evaluation of secretion.     

Monoclonal tobacco cell lines with enhanced recombinant protein yields can be generated from heterogeneous cell suspension cultures by flow sorting

Plant cell suspension cultures can be used for the production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins, but their potential is limited by modest production levels that may be unstable over long culture periods, reflecting initial culture heterogeneity and subsequent genetic and epigenetic changes. We used flow sorting to generate highly productive monoclonal cell lines from a heterogeneous population of tobacco BY‐2 cells expressing the human antibody M12 by selecting the co‐expressed fluorescent marker protein DsRed located on the same T‐DNA. Separation yielded ～35% wells containing single protoplasts and ～15% wells with monoclonal microcolonies that formed within 2 weeks. Thus, enriching the population of fluorescent cells from initially 24% to 90–96% in the six monoclonal lines resulted in an up to 13‐fold increase in M12 production that remained stable for 10–12 months. This is the first straightforward procedure allowing the generation of monoclonal plant cell suspension cultures by flow sorting, greatly increasing the potential of plant cells as an economical platform for the manufacture of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins.