The development of transposon vectors for mammalian transgenesis has the potential to solve many of the limitations of retroviral (e.g., Lentiviral) vectors such as limited transgene size and random integration. We have recently demonstrated that the piggyBac transposon, originally isolated from the cabbage looper moth Trichoplusia ni, is more efficient at transposition than hyperactive Sleeping Beauty, once thought to be the most active transposon.
Our first aim explores the possibility of a single plasmid transposase-transposons (Helper and Donor) ability to enzymatically insert a transgene in the transposon into the hosts genomic chromosome, at the teranucleotide (TTAA) site. We intend to use the information gained during cell transfection for the production of transgenic mice. Several methods have been developed for producing transgenic mice, including pronuclear microinjection, ICSI-Tr, virus-mediated insertion, and ES cell-mediated approaches. Of these only the virus-mediated insertion (Lentiviral) employs an active mode of transgene insertion, with the others relying on the repair mechanism of the oocyte for transgene integration. Since the development of ICSI-Tr which works optimally only with freeze-thawed sperm, we concentrated on improving the integration of transgenes in mice by developing active transgenesis procedures. Among approaches with protein recombinases and transposases, the hyperactive Tn5 transposase protein (*Tn5p) was by far the most efficient method when introducing the transgene in a transposon along with non freeze-thawed spermatozoa into unfertilized oocytes (TN:ICSI). However, because TN:ICSI suffers from cumbersome enzyme preparation techniques, we have now moved away from the enzymatic insertions of transgenes and developed DNA based procedures that allow synthesis of the transposase in-situ. Furthermore, to achieve target specificity, we fused the GAL4 DNA binding domain to the N-terminal of the piggyBac protein and determined the activity of the chimeras by chromosome integration assays. The GAL4-piggyBac transposase displayed an activity similar to that of wild-type piggyBac and inserted at its regular TTAA site. We therefore suggest that this transposon system, because of its flexibility for molecular engineering and its relatively high transposition activity, could be ideal for mammalian transgenesis and pre-clinical gene therapy experiments. For the first specific aim, we will additionally utilize a chimeric transposase coupled to the GAL-4 DNA binding domain for targeted integration into a mouse embryos genome with a UAS tandem array. In the second aim, we will develop transposases coupled to a zinc finger DNA binding domain, both in DNA and cRNA form, that recognize the tyrosinase locus for targeted genomic integration in both cell lines and animals. Therefore, this grant should lead to improved non-viral integrating vectors for use in mammalian transgenesis and animal gene therapy experiments.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM083158-04
Application #
8069618
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-GTIE-A (01))
Program Officer
Janes, Daniel E
Project Start
2008-07-01
Project End
2013-05-31
Budget Start
2011-06-01
Budget End
2012-05-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$285,258
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Hawaii
Department
Anatomy/Cell Biology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
965088057
City
Honolulu
State
HI
Country
United States
Zip Code
96822
Li, Zicong; Zeng, Fang; Meng, Fanming et al. (2014) Generation of transgenic pigs by cytoplasmic injection of piggyBac transposase-based pmGENIE-3 plasmids. Biol Reprod 90:93
Bertino, Pietro; Urschitz, Johann; Hoffmann, Fukun W et al. (2014) Vaccination with a piggyBac plasmid with transgene integration potential leads to sustained antigen expression and CD8(+) T cell responses. Vaccine 32:1670-7
Dewitt, J; Ochoa, V; Urschitz, J et al. (2014) Constitutively active TrkB confers an aggressive transformed phenotype to a neural crest-derived cell line. Oncogene 33:977-85
Anderson, Cynthia D; Urschitz, Johann; Khemmani, Mark et al. (2013) Ultrasound directs a transposase system for durable hepatic gene delivery in mice. Ultrasound Med Biol 39:2351-61
Owens, Jesse B; Mathews, Juanita; Davy, Philip et al. (2013) Effective Targeted Gene Knockdown in Mammalian Cells Using the piggyBac Transposase-based Delivery System. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids 2:e137
Owens, Jesse B; Mauro, Damiano; Stoytchev, Ilko et al. (2013) Transcription activator like effector (TALE)-directed piggyBac transposition in human cells. Nucleic Acids Res 41:9197-207
Urschitz, Johann; Moisyadi, Stefan (2013) Transpositional transgenesis with piggyBac. Mob Genet Elements 3:e25167
Wu, Zhenfang; Xu, Zhiqian; Zou, Xian et al. (2013) Pig transgenesis by piggyBac transposition in combination with somatic cell nuclear transfer. Transgenic Res 22:1107-18
Owens, Jesse B; Urschitz, Johann; Stoytchev, Ilko et al. (2012) Chimeric piggyBac transposases for genomic targeting in human cells. Nucleic Acids Res 40:6978-91
Marh, Joel; Stoytcheva, Zoia; Urschitz, Johann et al. (2012) Hyperactive self-inactivating piggyBac for transposase-enhanced pronuclear microinjection transgenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:19184-9

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