[Genetic transformation of autotetraploid Isatis indigotica fort. induced by Ri T-DNA and plant regeneration].

OBJECTIVE: To establish an effective system for genetic transformation of autotetraploid Isatis indigotica by Agrobacterium rhizogenes. METHOD: Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains R1601, ATCC15834 and A4 were employed to induce hairy roots from autotetraploid Isatis indigotica, and the obtained hairy roots were developed into regenerated plants on solid MS media with different Kinds of plant growth regulators. RESULT: Root induction differed obviously. By three Agrobacterium strains. Hairy roots grew rapidly on solid MS medium without plant growth regulators and showed the typical hairy root phenotype: profuse branching, high density of root hairs and plagiotropism. And the transformation of Ri T-DNA was confirmed by opine analysis. The biomass of hairy roots increased nearly 35 times regulator-free MS after suspended in plant growth two weeks. On solid MS medium with BA, adventitious buds were differentiated directly from hairy roots without callus formation. All of the adventitious buds were rooted on root induction medium and developed into regenerated plants. Opine analysis indicated the integration of Ri T-DNA in the transformed plants. CONCLUSION: Agrobacterium rhizogene can induce hairy roots from autotetraploid Isatis indigotica, and the obtained hairy roots can develop into regenerated plants.

Efficient CFTR expression from AAV vectors packaged with promoters--the second generation.

Gene therapy studies of cystic fibrosis (CF) have shown that AAV-based vector was efficient in transferring but not in expressing the CFTR cDNA in the target cells. The levels of CFTR gene expression were limited by the small packaging capacity of AAV because it had been difficult to package the CFTR cDNA with an efficient promoter. In the present study we have developed a new generation of AAV/CFTR vectors which contain efficient short promoters to express the CFTR gene in target cells. To do so, we reduced the size of the CFTR cDNA by determining the minimal untranslated regions required for expression of CFTR cDNA. We also identified short and efficient promoters that could be packaged with the down-sized CFTR cDNA into a novel AAV vector that had a maximal packaging capacity. Functional analyses showed that the new vectors were packaged efficiently and expressed higher levels of CFTR than a vector in which the CFTR gene was driven by the ITR sequence of AAV. Transduction of airway epithelial cells containing [symbol: see text] 508 mutation with the new vectors demonstrated efficient expression of the wild-type CFTR and correction of the CF phenotype. In contrast, no significant CFTR expression was detected in cells infected with the vector that express the CFTR gene from the ITR. These findings support the notion that the AAV can be developed into an efficient vector to transduce the CFTR gene and vectors expressing higher levels of CFTR from an efficient promoter should provide better efficacy for gene therapy of cystic fibrosis.

Disruption of 3D tissue integrity facilitates adenovirus infection by deregulating the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor.

The human coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) represents the primary cellular site of adenovirus attachment during infection. An understanding of the mechanisms regulating its expression could contribute to improving efficacy and safety of adenovirus-based therapies. We characterized regulation of CAR expression in a 3D cell culture model of human breast cancer progression, which mimics aspects of the physiological tissue context in vitro. Phenotypically normal breast epithelial cells (S1) and their malignant derivative (T4-2 cells) were grown either on tissue culture plastic (2D) or 3D cultures in basement membrane matrix. S1 cells grown in 3D showed low levels of CAR, which was expressed mainly at cell-cell junctions. In contrast, T4-2 cells expressed high levels of CAR, which was mainly in the cytoplasm. When signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor was inhibited in T4-2 cells, cells reverted to a normal phenotype, CAR protein expression was significantly reduced, and the protein relocalized to cell-cell junctions. Growth of S1 cells as 2D cultures or in 3D in collagen-I, a nonphysiological microenvironment for these cells, led to up-regulation of CAR to levels similar to those in T4-2 cells, independently of cellular growth rates. Thus, expression of CAR depends on the integrity and polarity of the 3D organization of epithelial cells. Disruption of this organization by changes in the microenvironment, including malignant transformation, leads to up-regulation of CAR, thus enhancing the cell's susceptibility to adenovirus infection.