Inhibiting gene expression in vivo by virus-mediated small interfering RNA

Inhibiting gene expression in specific tissues and organs through intravenous injection would be the ultimately preferred method of disease therapy. Here, we report the successful delivery of lentivirus-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA) to suppress GFP gene expression in living mice. First, a lentiviral vector with siRNA (len-siRNA) driven by H1 promoter was constructed to effectively suppress GFP expression in Mel cells. When the len-siRNA virus was injected into transgenic mice, the GFP expression was significantly suppressed (over 15% reduction) in the recipient mice compared to the control mice and the suppressing effect lasted more than 1 week after injection. Our results demonstrate a new effective approach to inhibit gene expression by siRNA and lentiviral vectors. Further development of this drug for suppression of gene expression siRNA should result in applications not only for cancers but also for infectious and immune diseases. Published in Russian in Molekulyarnaya Biologiya, 2008, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 990–996. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

A simple strategy for generation of gene knockdown constructs with convergent H1 and U6 promoters

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool for functional genetic studies in model organisms and mammalian cells. To facilitate rapid construction of gene knockdown constructs and RNAi libraries for known genes of mammalian cells, a new and simple strategy to produce small interfering RNA (siRNA) expression vectors with two opposing polymerase III promoters was developed. The design involved a one-step PCR amplification and single cloning procedure to construct a dual promoter siRNA expression vector. The forward primer is identical for all PCR reactions, only a single reverse primer that contains the siRNA targeting sequence has to be synthesized in the construction of each individual vector. This single primer design is cost-effective and it reduces the risk of sequence errors during synthesis of long oligos. Sense and antisense strands of siRNA duplexes were transcribed from the same template and this eliminated the need to synthesize long hairpin-forming oligonucleotides. Our study demonstrated that this vector design could mediate potent inhibition of expression of both exogenous and endogenous genes in mammalian cells.     

Hairpin RNAs derived from RNA polymerase II and polymerase III promoter-directed transgenes are processed differently in plants

RNA polymerase III (Pol III) as well as Pol II (35S) promoters are able to drive hairpin RNA (hpRNA) expression and induce target gene silencing in plants. siRNAs of 21 nt are the predominant species in a 35S Pol II line, whereas 24- and/or 22-nucleotide (nt) siRNAs are produced by a Pol III line. The 35S line accumulated the loop of the hpRNA, in contrast to full-length hpRNA in the Pol III line. These suggest that Pol II and Pol III-transcribed hpRNAs are processed by different pathways. One Pol III transgene produced only 24-nt siRNAs but silenced the target gene efficiently, indicating that the 24-nt siRNAs can direct mRNA degradation; specific cleavage was confirmed by 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Both Pol II- and Pol III-directed hpRNA transgenes induced cytosine methylation in the target DNA. The extent of methylation is not correlated with the level of 21-nt siRNAs, suggesting that they are not effective inducers of DNA methylation. The promoter of a U6 transgene was significantly methylated, whereas the promoter of the endogenous U6 gene was almost free of cytosine methylation, suggesting that endogenous sequences are more resistant to de novo DNA methylation than are transgene constructs.     

精胺对Azin1基因敲除小鼠体内Atp8a1基因表达调控的研究

目的 研究精胺对Azin1基因敲除小鼠体内Atp8a1基因表达的影响,并对其作用机理进行初步的探讨.方法 利用Real-time PCR检测正常小鼠和Azin1基因敲除小鼠体内Atp8a1基因的在mRNA水平上的差异表达情况;构建Atp8a1基因的启动子虫荧光素酶报告质粒;将启动子重组质粒转染NTH3T3细胞后,在细胞培养液中加入精胺,检测精胺对启动子活性的影响.结果 Atp8a1基因在Azin1基因敲除小鼠体内的表达量明显增加;精胺能够增强Atp8a1的启动子活性.结论 精胺能够通过增强Atp8a1的启动子活性而增强其在Ain1基因敲除小鼠体内转录水平的表达.     

Cassettes for seed-specific expression tested in transformed embryogenic cultures of soybean

Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) lectin is a seed protein that accumulates in protein bodies of cotyledons during seed development. We have constructed two expression cassettes containing the 5′ and 3′ regions of the soybean lectin gene connected by aNot I restriction site. One vector also contains the 32 amino acid signal sequence. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the coding region of the β-glucuronidase (uidA) gene was inserted into theNot I site of each vector. We tested the function of the expression cassettes in transformed embryogenic cultures of soybean. Development-specific GUS expression was observed in developing somatic embryos transformed with the chimeric lectin promoter-GUS constructs as determined by histochemical assays. Our data indicate that these cassettes could be used to drive expression of foreign genes to modify embryo-specific traits of soybean as protein quality or quantity in the seed.     

Transcriptional targeting of small interfering RNAs into cancer cells

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are widely used for analyzing gene function and have the potential to be developed into human therapeutics. However, persistent siRNA expression in normal cells may cause toxic side effects. Therefore, the therapeutic applications of RNAi in cancer require either the specific delivery of synthetic siRNAs into cancer cells or the control of siRNA expression. Accordingly, we have developed a cancer-specific vector that expresses siRNAs from the human survivin promoter. A plasmid vector expressing siRNAs under this promoter enabled efficient gene silencing of gene expression in different cancer cell lines. The levels of inhibition were comparable to that obtained with the constitutively active U6 promoter. By contrast to U6 promoter, no significant gene silencing was obtained with the Survivin promoter in normal mammary epithelial cells. Collectively, these data indicate that the survivin promoter is suitable for directing siRNA expression in cancer cells, but not normal cells.     

Sleeping Beauty-mediated down-regulation of huntingtin expression by RNA interference

Huntington disease (HD) is a devastating neurologic disorder that is characterized by abnormal expansion of a CAG nt repeat in the first exon of the huntingtin (htt) gene, producing a mutant protein with an elongated polyglutamine stretch. The presence of this mutant protein is correlated with the characteristic loss of striatal neurons and the clinical manifestation of HD. Currently there is no effective treatment for the associated cell death. The aim of this study was to evaluate an innovative strategy combining RNA interference (RNAi) and gene transfer via the nonviral Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system to down-regulate Htt expression. siRNA expression vectors were designed to target exons 1, 4, 6, and 62 of the human htt gene. Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis were used to quantify Htt mRNA and protein levels, respectively, in human cell lines. The results indicated that selected siRNA constructs significantly decreased Htt mRNA and protein levels relative to controls. In addition, SB transposition of the siRNA constructs into the genome reduced long-term protein expression of Htt by approximately 90%. The combination of siRNA, the SB transposon, and an accurate transgenic mouse model may permit evaluation of this approach in preventing the pathogenesis associated with expression of mutant Htt.     

Rapid generation of knockdown transgenic mice by silencing lentiviral vectors

Lentiviral vectors are potent gene delivery vehicles that enable stable expression of transgenes in both dividing and postmitotic cells, including preimplantation embryos. We have developed lentiviral vectors carrying silencing cassettes consisting of an RNA polymerase III promoter expressing short hairpin RNAs. Transgenic mice can be generated rapidly by transduction of early embryos with lentiviral silencing vectors, resulting in mice with downregulated target genes. We describe two alternative early embryo transduction protocols (removal of zona pellucida and subzonal microinjection). These methodologies offer the possibility of large-scale generation of knockdown transgenic mice for functional genomic studies and enable the production of transgenic mice in 7 weeks.     

利用人U6 snRNA启动子构建RNA干扰质粒载体

RNA干扰技术已经成为基因功能研究等领域的有力工具,构建带有筛选标记的siRNA载体可以在细胞中持续抑制靶基因的表达.为了利用RNAi技术开展生物学研究,在克隆载体pUC19的基础上改造构建了人类细胞小干扰RNA（small interference RNA,siRNA）表达质粒pUC19NU.该质粒具有新霉素抗性标记和真核细胞复制起点,利用连入的人U6 snRNA启动子起始siRNA的转录.以EGFP 和p53为靶基因的干扰实验证明,所构建的siRNA表达质粒可以显著抑制细胞外源性增强绿色荧光蛋白（enhanced green fluorescent protein,EGFP）及细胞内源性p53蛋白的表达,而且抑制效果具有特异性.     

EphA3基因启动子区域定位表达及活性分析

目的构建含有不同长度EphA3基因启动子片段的报告基因载体,研究其在293T细胞和MEF细胞中的转录活性。方法以Balb／C小鼠基因组DNA为模板,扩增不同长度的EphA3基因启动子片段,并克隆进入荧光素酶报告基因质粒pGL3-Basic真核表达载体内。酶切鉴定及基因测序无误后,将重组质粒和pRL—CMV内对照质粒共转染293T和MEF细胞,分析不同长度的OhA3基因启动子片段的转录活性。结果酶切和测序鉴定表明表达载体构建成功,EphA3基因的核心启动子区域位于-279bp～＋110bp之间,在293T细胞和MEF细胞中其转录活性相似。结论成功构建了荧光素报告基因重组质粒,并确定了BphA3基因的核心启动子区域。     

Polymerase II promoter strength determines efficacy of microRNA adapted shRNAs

Since the discovery of RNAi and microRNAs more than 10 years ago, much research has focused on the development of systems that usurp microRNA pathways to downregulate gene expression in mammalian cells. One of these systems makes use of endogenous microRNA pri-cursors that are expressed from polymerase II promoters where the mature microRNA sequence is replaced by gene specific duplexes that guide RNAi (shRNA-miRs). Although shRNA-miRs are effective in directing target mRNA knockdown and hence reducing protein expression in many cell types, variability of RNAi efficacy in cell lines has been an issue. Here we show that the choice of the polymerase II promoter used to drive shRNA expression is of critical importance to allow effective mRNA target knockdown. We tested the abundance of shRNA-miRs expressed from five different polymerase II promoters in 6 human cell lines and measured their ability to drive target knockdown. We observed a clear positive correlation between promoter strength, siRNA expression levels, and protein target knockdown. Differences in RNAi from the shRNA-miRs expressed from the various promoters were particularly pronounced in immune cells. Our findings have direct implications for the design of shRNA-directed RNAi experiments and the preferred RNAi system to use for each cell type.