• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2009-2018
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• 2018

Leuconostoc mesenteroides can be used to produce mannitol by fermentation, but the mannitol productivity is not high. Therefore, in this study we modified the chromosome of Leuconostoc mesenteroides by genetic methods to obtain high-yield strains for mannitol production. In this study, gene knock-out strains and gene knock-in strains were constructed by a two-step homologous recombination method. The mannitol productivity of the pat gene (which encodes phosphate acetyltransferase) deletion strain (${\Delta}pat::amy$), the fk gene (which encodes fructokinase) deletion strain (${\Delta}fk::amy$) and the stpk gene (which encodes serine-threonine protein kinase) deletion strain (${\Delta}stpk::amy$) were all increased compared to the wild type, and the productivity of mannitol for each strain was 84.8%, 83.5% and 84.1%, respectively. The mannitol productivity of the mdh gene (which encodes mannitol dehydrogenase) knock-in strains (${\Delta}pat::mdh$, ${\Delta}fk::mdh$ and ${\Delta}stpk::mdh$) was increased to a higher level than that of the single-gene deletion strains, and the productivity of mannitol for each was 96.5%, 88% and 93.2%, respectively. The multi-mutant strain ${\Delta}dts{\Delta}ldh{\Delta}pat::mdh{\Delta}stpk::mdh{\Delta}fk::mdh$ had mannitol productivity of 97.3%. This work shows that multi-gene knock-out and gene knock-in strains have the greatest impact on mannitol production, with mannitol productivity of 97.3% and an increase of 24.7% over wild type. This study used the methods of gene knock-out and gene knock-in to genetically modify the chromosome of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. It is of great significance that we increased the ability of Leuconostoc mesenteroides to produce mannitol and revealed its broad development prospects.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 2017

The knock-in efficiency in the fibroblast is very important to produce transgenic domestic animal using nuclear transfer. In this research, we constructed three kinds of different knock-in vectors to study the efficiency of knock-in depending on structure of knock-in vector with different size of homologous arm on the ${\beta}-casein$ gene locus in the somatic cells; DT-A_cEndo Knock-in vector, DT-A_tEndo Knock-in vector I, and DT-A_tEndo Knock-in vector II. The knock-in vector consists of 4.8 kb or 1.06 kb of 5' arm region and 1.8 kb or 0.64 kb of 3' arm region, and neomycin resistance gene(neor) as a positive selection marker gene. The cEndo Knock-in vector had 4.8 kb and 1.8 kb homologous arm. The tEndo Knock-in vector I had 1.06 kb and 0.64 kb homologous arm and tEndo Knock-in vector II had 1.06 kb and 1.8 kb homologous arm. To express endostatin gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5' terminal of endostatin gene and inserted into exon 7 of the ${\beta}-casein$ gene. The knock-in vector and TALEN were introduced into the bovine fibroblast by electroporation. The knock-in efficiencies of cEndo, tEndo I, and tEndo II vector were 4.6%, 2.2% and 4.8%, respectively. These results indicated that size of 3' arm in the knock-in vector is important for TALEN-mediated homologous recombination in the fibroblast. In conclusion, our knock-in system may help to create transgenic dairy cattle expressing human endostatin protein via the endogenous expression system of the bovine ${\beta}-casein$ gene in the mammary gland.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.205-209
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• 2008

This study was carried out to develop knock-in vector for EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) expression in porcine $\beta$-casein locus. For construction of knock-in vector using porcine $\beta$-casein gene, we cloned the $\beta$-casein genome DNA from porcine fetal fibroblast cells, EGFP and SV40 polyA signal using PCR. The knock-in vectors consisted of a 5-kb fragment as the 5' recombination arm and a 2.7-kb fragment as the 3' recombination arm. We used the neomycin resistance gene ($neo^{r}$) as a positive selectable marker and the diphtheria toxin A (DT-A) gene as a negative selectable marker. To demonstrate EGFP expression from knock-in vector, we are transfected knock-in vector that has EGFP gene in murine mammary epithelial cell line HC11 cells with pSV2 neo plasmid. The EGFP expression was detected in HC11 cells transfected knock-in vector. This result demonstrates that this knock-in vector may be used for the development of knock-in transgenic pig.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.51-55
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• 2017

The production of therapeutic protein from transgenic domestic animal is the major technology of biotechnology. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is known to play an important role in the growth of the animal. The objective of this study is construction of knock-in vector that bovine IGF-1 gene is inserted into the exon 7 locus of ${\beta}$-casein gene and expressed using the gene regulatory DNA sequence of bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene. The knock-in vector consists of 5' arm region (1.02 kb), bIGF-1 cDNA, CMV-EGFP, and 3' arm region (1.81 kb). To express bIGF-1 gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5' terminal of bIGF-1 gene and inserted into exon 7 of the ${\beta}$-casein gene. As a result, the knock-in vector is confirmed that the amino acids are synthesized without termination from the ${\beta}$-casein exon 7 region to the bIGF-1 gene by DNA sequence. These knock-in vectors may help to create transgenic dairy cattle expressing bovine bIGF-1 protein in the mammary gland via the expression system of the bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1473-1480
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• 2012

The Galactose-${\alpha}1$,3-galactose (${\alpha}1$,3Gal) epitope is responsible for hyperacute rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. Human decay-accelerating factor (hDAF) is a cell surface regulatory protein that serves as a complement inhibitor to protect self cells from complement attack. The generation of ${\alpha}1$,3-galactosyltransferase (GGTA1) knock-out pigs expressing DAF is a necessary step for their use as organ donors for humans. In this study, we established GGTA1 knock-out cell lines expressing DAF from pig ear fibroblasts for somatic cell nuclear transfer. hDAF expression was detected in hDAF knock-in heterozygous cells, but not in normal pig cells. Expression of the GGTA1 gene was lower in the knock-in heterozygous cell line compared to the normal pig cell. Knock-in heterozygous cells afforded more effective protection against cytotoxicity with human serum than with GGTA1 knock-out heterozygous and control cells. These cell lines may be used in the production of GGTA1 knock-out and DAF expression pigs for xenotransplantation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1023-1033
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• 2020

Objective: The efficiency of the knock-in process is very important to successful gene editing in domestic animals. Recently, it was reported that transient loosening of the nucleosomal folding of transcriptionally inactive chromatin might have the potential to enhance homologous recombination efficiency. The objective of this study was to determine whether histone deacetylases (HDAC) inhibitor and RAD51 recombinase (RAD51) expression were associated with increased knock-in efficiency on the β-casein (bCSN2) gene locus in mammary alveolar-large T antigen (MAC-T) cells using the transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) system. Methods: MAC-T cells were treated with HDAC inhibitors, valproic acid, trichostatin A, or sodium butyrate for 24 h, then transfected with a knock-in vector, RAD51 expression vector and TALEN to target the bCSN2 gene. After 3 days of transfection, the knock-in efficiency was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing of the target site. Results: The level of HDAC 2 protein in MAC-T cells was decreased by treatment with HDAC inhibitors. The knock-in efficiency in MAC-T cells treated with HDAC inhibitors was higher than in cells not treated with inhibitors. However, the length of the homologous arm of the knock-in vector made no difference in the knock-in efficiency. Furthermore, DNA sequencing confirmed that the precision of the knock-in was more efficient in MAC-T cells treated with sodium butyrate. Conclusion: These results indicate that chromatin modification by HDAC inhibition and RAD51 expression enhanced the homologous recombination efficiency on the bCSN2 gene locus in MAC-T cells.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1644-1651
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• 2014

Transgenic animals have become important tools for the production of therapeutic proteins in the domestic animal. Production efficiencies of transgenic animals by conventional methods as microinjection and retrovirus vector methods are low, and the foreign gene expression levels are also low because of their random integration in the host genome. In this study, we investigated the homologous recombination on the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene locus using a knock-in vector for the ${\beta}$-casein gene locus. We developed the knock-in vector on the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene locus and isolated knock-in fibroblast for nuclear transfer. The knock-in vector consisted of the neomycin resistance gene (neo) as a positive selectable marker gene, diphtheria toxin-A gene as negative selection marker, and 5' arm and 3' arm from the porcine ${\beta}$-casein gene. The secretion of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was more easily detected in the cell culture media than it was by western blot analysis of cell extract of the HC11 mouse mammary epithelial cells transfected with EGFP knock-in vector. These results indicated that a knock-in system using ${\beta}$-casein gene induced high expression of transgene by the gene regulatory sequence of endogenous ${\beta}$-casein gene. These fibroblasts may be used to produce transgenic pigs for the production of therapeutic proteins via the mammary glands.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 2015

Galactose-${\alpha}1,3$-galactose (${\alpha}1,3$-Gal) epitope is synthesized at a high concentration on the surface of pig cells by ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene (GGTA1). The ${\alpha}1,3$-Gal is responsible for hyperacute rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. The generation of transgenic pigs as organ donors for humans is necessary to eliminate the GGTA1 gene that synthesize $Gal{\alpha}$(1,3)Gal. To prevent hyperacute graft rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation, previously, we developed ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene-knock-out somatic cell by homologous recombination. In this study, we established cell lines of ${\alpha}1,3$-GT knock-out expressing hDAF and hHT gene from minipig fibroblasts to apply somatic cell nuclear transfer. The hDAF and hHT mRNA were expressed in the knock-in somatic cells and ${\alpha}1,3$-GT mRNA was suppressed. However, the knock-in somatic cells were increased resistance to human serum-mediated cytolysis.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.99-108
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• 2023

Background: Efficient gene editing technology is needed for successful knock-in. Homologous recombination (HR) is a major double-strand break repair pathway that can be utilized for accurately inserting foreign genes into the genome. HR occurs during the S/G2 phase, and the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) pathway is inextricably linked to HR to maintain HR fidelity. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of inhibiting MMR-related genes using CdCl₂, an MMR-related gene inhibitor, on HR efficiency in HC11 cells. Methods: The mRNA and protein expression levels of MMR-related genes (Msh2, Msh3, Msh6, Mlh1, Pms2), the HR-related gene Rad51, and the NHEJ-related gene DNA Ligase IV were assessed in HC11 cells treated with 10 μM of CdCl₂ for 48 hours. In addition, HC11 cells were transfected with a CRISPR/sgRNA expression vector and a knock-in vector targeting Exon3 of the mouse-beta casein locus, and treated with 10 μM cadmium for 48 hours. The knock-in efficiency was monitored through PCR. Results: The treatment of HC11 cells with a high-dose of CdCl₂ decreased the mRNA expression of the HR-related gene Rad51 in HC11 cells. In addition, the inhibition of MMR-related genes through CdCl₂ treatment did not lead to an increase in knock-in efficiency. Conclusions: The inhibition of MMR-related gene expression through high-dose CdCl₂ treatment reduces the expression of the HR-related gene Rad51, which is active during recombination. Therefore, it was determined that CdCl₂ is an inappropriate compound for improving HR efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.745-753
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• 2008

Gene-manipulated mice were discovered for the first time about a quarter century ago. Since then, numerous sophisticated technologies have been developed and applied to answer key questions about the fundamental roles of the genes of interest. Functional genomics can be characterized into gain-of-function and loss-of-function, which are called transgenic and knock-out studies, respectively. To make transgenic mice, the most widely used technique is the microinjection of transgene-containing vectors into the embryonic pronucleus. However, there are critical drawbacks: namely position effects, integration of unknown copies of a foreign gene, and instability of the foreign DNA within the host genome. To overcome these problems, the ROSA26 locus was used for the knock-in site of a transgene. Usage of this locus is discussed for the gain of function study as well as for several brilliant approaches such as conditional/inducible transgenic system, reproducible/inducible knockdown system, specific cell ablation by Cre-mediated expression of DTA, Cre-ERTM mice as a useful tool for temporal gene regulation, MORE mice as a germ line delete and site specific recombinase system. Techniques to make null mutant mice include complicated steps: vector design and construction, colony selection of embryonic stem (ES) cells, production of chimera mice, confirmation of germ line transmission, and so forth. It is tedious and labor intensive work and difficult to approach. Thus, it is not readily accessible by most researchers. In order to overcome such limitations, technical breakthroughs such as reporter knock-in and gene knock-out system, production of homozygous mutant ES cells from a single targeting vector, and production of mutant mice from tetraploid embryos are developed. With these upcoming progresses, it is important to consider how we could develop these systems further and expand to other animal models such as pigs and monkeys that have more physiological similarities to humans.