Hypoxia enhances the therapeutic potential of superparamagnetic iron oxide-labeled adipose-derived stem cells for myocardial infarction.

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) induce therapeutic angiogenesis due to pro-angiogenic cytokines secretion. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles are critical for magnetic resonance (MR) tracking of implanted cells. Hypoxia is a powerful stimulus for angiogenic activity of ASCs.

Malignant transformation of 293 cells induced by ectopic expression of human Nanog.

Tumor development has long been known to resemble abnormal embryogenesis. The ESC self-renewal gene NANOG is purportedly expressed in some epithelial cancer cells and solid tumors, but a casual role in tumor development has remained unclear. In order to more comprehensively elucidate the relationship between human Nanog and tumorigenesis, the hNanog was ectopically expressed in the 293 cell line to investigate its potential for malignant transformation of cells both in vitro and in vivo.

[The targeting study of human serum albumin gene].

To generate transgenic porcine which expresses human serum albumin (HSA), the HSA gene targeting vector was constructed with HSA cDNA as the gene of interestand partial porcine serum albumin (PSA) gene as homologous arms which respectively were 7.2 kb 5' regulation sequence and 2.8 kb genomic sequence from the first intron to the fourth intron.

[Multipotential differentiation and potential applications of adipose-derived stem cells].

Adipose tissue contains a population of multipotent cells called adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). With the similar properties of marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, ADSCs have the ability to differentiate differentiate towards adipogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, myogenic, endothelial, hematopoietic, hepatic, islet, and neurogenic cell lineages. As adipose tissue in harvested in large amounts with minimal morbidity, it can be widely used in tissue engineering, organ repair and gene therapy.

[Nuclear transfer of goat somatic cells transgenic for human lactoferrin].

Transgenic animal mammary gland bioreactors are being used to produce recombinant proteins with appropriate post-translational modifications, and nuclear transfer of transgenic somatic cells is a more powerful method to produce mammary gland bioreactor. Here we describe efficient gene transfer and nuclear transfer in goat somatic cells. Gene targeting vector pGBC2LF was constructed by cloning human lactoferrin (LF) gene cDNA into exon 2 of the milk goat beta-casein gene, and the endogenous start condon was replaced by that of human LF gene.

[Accelerated somatic cell senescence and changes in p16INK4a expression after exogenous DNA transfection].

During the transfection of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF), we found these cells became senescent, appearing enlarged with hollow cytoplasm and multinucleated. The telomere lengths of these senescent MEFs were significantly shorter than primary untransfected MEFs. In senescent MEF cells, DNA methylation of p16INK4a 5'-regulatory region showed gradual reduction as cells aged.

[The synthesis and function analysis of omega-3 fatty acid desaturase gene from Caenorhabditis briggssae].

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been broadly investigated and shown to exert many preventive and therapeutic actions besides their important role in maintenances human health and normal development. In mammals, the level of omega-3 PUFAs is relatively too low compared with omega-6 PUFAs, which metabolically and functionally distinct from omega-3 PUFAs and often have important opposing physiological functions. Either the inefficiency of omega-3 PUFAs or the excess of omega-6 PUFAs will cause many healthy problems.

[Synthesis of total sFat-1 gene by PCR-restrict enzyme ligation method].

Gene synthesis is very important in life science research, and it becomes a technique in common use. It is difficult for long gene synthesis, because the mismatches and mutations of DNA sequence in nucleotide fragments assembling. This study established a new method for long gene synthesis, which was referred to as PCR-restrict enzyme ligation method.

[Characteristics and Influencing factors of Sperm Interaction with Exogenous DNA].

Exogenous DNA localization and the frequency of spermatozoa carrying exogenous DNA after sperm/DNA co-culture are key to a successful sperm mediated-gene transfer (SMGT). In the study, the characteristics and influencing factors of exogenous DNA uptake by spermatozoa were tested using digoxigenin (DIG) labeled DNA as trace. Results showed that goat spermatozoa could spontaneously take up exogenous DNA.

[The construction and characterization of human pro-urokinase mutant].

It is very easy for the pro-UK to lose it's biological activity because of the digestion of pro-UK by the thrombin or the inhibition of pro-UK by the PAI-I. So three pro-UK mutant (pro-UK) genes were constructed in this experiment with the PCR point-mutant method. The thrombin cleavage site Arg156 in pro-UK was mutated into His156, and named as pro-UKM1; PAI binding sites Arg178, Arg179, Arg181 were mutated into Lys178, Lys179, His181, named as pro-UKM2; The mutant containing His156, Lys178, Lys179, His181 as pro-UKM3.

[High-efficient gene targeting of goat mammary epithelium cell by the multi-selection mechanism].

Gene targeting is a more powerful method to produce mammary gland bioreactor and nuclear transfer from cultured somatic cells provides an wonderful means of cell-mediated transgensis. Here we describe an efficient and reproducible gene targeting in goat mammary epithelium cell to place the GFP and neo at the beta-casein locus. The transgenic goat would be produced by nuclear transfer.

[The ht-PAm cDNA knock-in the goat beta-casein gene locus].

The production of recombinant protein is one of the major successes of biotechnology, animal cells are required to synthesize proteins with the appropriate post-translational modifications. Transgenic animal mammary gland bioreactor are being used for this purpose. Gene targeting is a more powerful method to produce mammary gland bioreactor, and nuclear transfer from cultured somatic cells provides an wonderful means of cell-mediated transgensis.

[Production of mammary gland bioreactor by gene targeting of somatic cells].

Producing mammary gland bioreactor showed great advantage over many years, but the level of transgenic expression was low in transgenic animals and the diversity was more great because of the position effect of transgene and the artificial recombination of the gene elements. Gene targeting based on the principle of gene homologous recombination had been studied and applied, because the transgene could be integrated precisely in the chromosome. This review summary the current status of producing mammary gland bioreactor by the technology of gene targeting and nuclear transfer using the somatic cell lines.

[The transgenic mice specifically express Cre recombinase in central nerve system].

For specific expressing Cre recombinase in central nerve system (CNS), a transgenic construct (pGFAP-Cre-hGH), containing the beta-globin insulators, 1.8 kb of glial fibrillary acidic protein gene (GFAP) 5' end regulation region, Cre gene and polyA of human growth hormone gene (hGH) was generated, in which the 5' end regulation region of GFAP was isolated from a 129sv mouse genomic DNA library with PCR-screening. 7.

[Nuclear reprogramming of somatic nuclear transfer embryos].

Although the cloned animals have been successfully generated in a number of mammalian species, there are still many problems about this technology. The developmental aberrancies include a high rate of abortion during early gestation and high rate of perinatal death. The main cause of these problems may be attributed to the epigenetic reprogramming of somatic donor genome.

[Study on a human tissue-type plasminogen activator mutant cDNA knocked-in the beta-casein gene site of murine ES cells].

A murine beta-casein gene targeting vector was constructed using the cloned genomic sequence. The short arm was 2.7 kb including mouse beta-casein gene 5' flanking sequence, exon1, intron1 and partial exon2.

A human t-PA mutant cDNA cassette knocked in the murine fgfr-4 locus targeting for mammary gland expression.

The expression of foreign gene in transgenic animals produced by pronuclear microinjection is often confounded by the position effects caused by not only the nature of chromosomal integration site but also the number and arrangement of multiple transgene copies. Gene targeting provides a new way to overcome these inhibitions by introducing single-copy transgene into a chosen site. The choice of a good chromosomal site will favor transgene expression in a predictable fashion.

[Murine beta-casein gene sequences direct a human tissue plasminogen activator variant expressed in the milk of transgenic mice].

To investigate the ability of our cloned murine beta-casein locus to direct the exogenous gene expression in the milk of transgenic mice, the human t-PA variant mammary gland expression vector under the control of murine beta-casein gene regulatory elements was constructed, in which the human t-PA variant signal-pro peptide sequence was replaced with murine beta-casein signal peptide sequence and the human t-PA variant mature peptide cDNA was inserted into the second exon of beta-casein gene. The fusion gene was microinjected in the fertilized mice eggs. A total of 285 embryos were microinjected and transferred into 13 surrogate mother mice.

Expression of Smad4 Gene in Pichia pastoris and Identification of the Protein.

Smad4 is a novel tumor suppressor gene which is mutated or deleted in about 50% of pancreatic carcinoma and 30% of colon cancer. SMAD4 was expressed in Pichia pastoris and was characterized. The molecular weight of the expression product was shown to be about 67 kD, and 13 amino acids in N terminal were determined and were identical with the putative sequence from Smad4 cDNA, and it was able to specifically react with the antibody against SMAD4.