Relationship between hepatitis B virus polymerase gene mutation patterns of rtM204I/V and pre-core/basal core promoter mutations / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between mutations of rtM204V/I (methionine to valine or isoleucine at position rt204 of reverse transcriptase domain) in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase gene and the G1896A and G1899A single mutations in the pre-eore (PC) region and the A1762T and G1764A double-mutations in the basal core promoter (BCP) region.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 2,849 hepatitis B complete genome sequences were retrieved from the GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ. The amino acid sequence of the of reverse transcriptase domain and genome sequences of the PC region and the BCP region were aligned using MEGA4 software. Data were calculated using Microsoft Excel and evaluated using SPSS 13.0 statistical software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 2, 849 HBV complete genome sequences, 217 (8%) strains were identified with Y(I/V) DD and 120 of those had the YIDD mutation and 97 had the YVDD mutation. Of the 1543 strains (54.2%) with PC-BCP mutations, seven mutation patterns of G 1896A-G 1899A-G 1896A-G 1899A-A 1762T/G 1764A, A 1762T/G 1764AG 1896A, A 1762T/G 1764A-G 1899A, and A 1762T/G 1764A-G 1896A-G 1899A were identified. of YMDD and PC-BCP had a higher incidence than the single YMDD mutation (76% vs 24.0%, x2=45.283, P=0.000). The double-mutations of YIDD and PC-BCP had a higher incidence than the double-mutation of YVDD and PC-BCP (85% vs 64.9%, x2=11.836, P=0.000). The double-mutation for lamivudine resistance of YMDD and PC-BCP had a higher incidence than the double pre-existent YMDD and PC-BCP mutations (89.3% vs 58.9%, x2=27.084, P=0.000). The three mutation patterns of G1896A-G1899A (P=0.000, OR=7.573), A1762T/G1764A-G1899A (P=0.000, OR=6.539) and A1762T/G1764A-G1896A-G1899A (P=0.000, OR=6.596) were associated with a greater risk of developing the YIDD mutation, according to binary logistic analysis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is a relationship between the HBV YI/VDD mutation and PC-BCP mutations. Different PC-BCP mutation patterns have different effects on the YI/VDD mutation.</p>

Cloning, expression, and in vitro functional activity assay of phiC31 integrase cDNA in Escherichia coli

The aim of present study was cloning and expression of phiC31 integrase cDNA in a bacterial expression vector. Thus, an intra molecular assay vector was applied to show in vitro activity of recombinant protein. In this experimental study, phiC31 cDNA was subcloned into a prokaryotic expression vector and transformed into E.coli Bl21 [DE3]. Recombinant phiC31 integrase was purified form the bacterial cell lysates and its activity was verified by an in vitro functional assessment. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS-PAGE] of the purified phiC31 integrase confirmed the size of protein [70 kDa]. Finally, the functionality of purified phiC31 integrase was verified. The results of this study indicated that the purified integrase has a great potential application for in vitro site-specific integration

Prokaryotic expression of DNA recombinase FLP and its purification with enzymatic activity / 生物工程学报

DNA recombinase FLP gene exists on the 2 micro plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Recombinase FLP could recognize an FRT site composed of 34bp and function the sequences for exchange, recombination, deletion and reversion between the two orientated FRT sites. These functions are highly recognized by molecular biologists and biotechnology engineers for theoretic and applicable technology studies. This work constructed a prokaryotic over-expressed vector harboring FLP gene nominated as pQE30-flpe and established its over-expression culture system in which recombinase FLP could be efficiently expressed in E. coli strain M15. Purification procedures for high purity and active FLP are established through combination of ammonium sulfate precipitation with a 0.5-1.0 mL micro-column technique of Ni affinity chromatography with gradient elution. To verify the recombinase activity of purified FLP, substrate vectors, sequence donor vector (pUC18-FRT-gfp-FRT) and sequence accepting vector (pET30a-FRT) are constructed with various number, orientation of FRTs harboring the GFP gene for the expression of visible assay of the functions of recombination, exchange and deletion. Results showed that the system not only over expressed recombinase FLP in prokaryotic E. coli, but also efficiently purified the enzyme with a higher activity of the function of recombination, exchange and deletion. The system and the method are easily implemented and feasibly manipulated for theoretic study and biotechnology application.

Development of site-specific integration system to high-level expression recombinant proteins in CHO cells / 生物工程学报

Stable transformants for mammalian cells from gene transfer often show extreme variability in expression of the introduced transgene. This occurs from the highly variable number of copies integrated into the genome and from position effects on gene expression due to random integration. We constructed engineered CHO strains that can be used for high-level production of foreign proteins by gene-targeting. After transfecting dihydroforate reductase (DHFR)-deficient CHO cells with a newly screening vector plasmid pMCEscan, which carrying a FRT-neo*-IRES-k2tPA fusion gene and a DHFR gene, we screened colonies by k2tPA expression level. We selected 7 clones that expressed high level of k2tPA and carried one copy of the plasmid in their chromosomes. These clones showed in high level k2tPA production without amplification. So we targeted reporter gene (k2tPA) to test the basal expression ability of these cells clones. The clone, 8-1, showed the same effect to high base expression level. In this clone, the FRT-neo*-IRES-tPA gene was integrated at a transcription-active, DHFR-mediated, gene-amplifiable locus in the chromosomes. A gene-targeting vector, carrying a FRT-fused hygromycin-resistance gene, was constructed to target desired genes in chromosomal FRT by FLP recombinase-mediated site-specific recombination. Using this cell-vector system, we could reproducibly obtain high producers of recombinant proteins by gene-targeting and gene amplification. Using the site-specific integration CHO/dhfr- cell line 8-1, the expression level of k2tPA could amount to 17.1 microg/10(6) cell x 24 h.

Produce of marker-free transgenic tobacco plants by FLP/frt recombination system / 生物工程学报

Selectable marker genes that usually encode antibiotic or herbicide resistances are widely used for the selection of the transgenic plants, but they become unnecessary and undesirable after transformation selection. An important strategy to improve the transgenic plants' biosafety is to eliminate the marker genes after successful selection. In the FLP/frt site-specific system of the 2 microm plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the FLP enzyme efficiently catalyzes recombination between two directly repeated FLP recombination target (frt) sites, eliminating the sequence between them. By controlled expression of the FLP recombinase and specific allocation of the frt sites within transgenic constructs, the system can be applied to eliminate the marker genes after selection. Through a series of procedures, the plant FLP/frt site-specific recombination system was constructed, which included the frt containing vector pCAMBIA1300-betA-frt-als-frt and the FLP expression vector pCAMBIA1300-hsp-FLP-hpt. The FLP recombinase gene was introduced into transgenic (betA-frt-als-frt) tobacco plants by re-transformation. In re-transgenic plants, after heat shock treatment, the marker gene als flanked by two identical orientation frt sites could be excised by the inducible expression of FLP recombinase under the control of hsp promoter. Excision of the als gene was found in 41% re-transgenic tobacco plants, which indicated that this systerm could make a great contribution to obtain the marker free transgenic plants.

Site specific integration of FLP recombinase in BHK-21 cell line.

A binary system for gene activation and site specific integration based on conditional recombination of transfected sequences mediated by FLP recombinase from yeast was implemented in mammalian cells. In several cell lines, FLP rapidly and precisely recombined copies of its specific target sequences to activate an otherwise silent beta-galactosidase reporter gene. Clones of marked cells were generated by excisional recombination within a chromosomally integrated copy of the silent reporters. These clones exhibited intense blue colour with X-Gal staining solution.