Molecular Diversity of Terpene Synthases in the Liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.

Marchantia polymorpha is a basal terrestrial land plant, which like most liverworts accumulates structurally diverse terpenes believed to serve in deterring disease and herbivory. Previous studies have suggested that the mevalonate and methylerythritol phosphate pathways, present in evolutionarily diverged plants, are also operative in liverworts. However, the genes and enzymes responsible for the chemical diversity of terpenes have yet to be described. In this study, we resorted to a HMMER search tool to identify 17 putative terpene synthase genes from M. polymorpha transcriptomes. Functional characterization identified four diterpene synthase genes phylogenetically related to those found in diverged plants and nine rather unusual monoterpene and sesquiterpene synthase-like genes. The presence of separate monofunctional diterpene synthases for ent-copalyl diphosphate and ent-kaurene biosynthesis is similar to orthologs found in vascular plants, pushing the date of the underlying gene duplication and neofunctionalization of the ancestral diterpene synthase gene family to >400 million years ago. By contrast, the mono- and sesquiterpene synthases represent a distinct class of enzymes, not related to previously described plant terpene synthases and only distantly so to microbial-type terpene synthases. The absence of a Mg2+ binding, aspartate-rich, DDXXD motif places these enzymes in a noncanonical family of terpene synthases.

Optimizing the transient Fast Agro-mediated Seedling Transformation (FAST) method in Catharanthus roseus seedlings.

KEY MESSAGE: An Agro-mediated transformation method has been adapted in Catharanthus roseus seedlings for transient overexpression. Our results suggest that Agro-mediated methods may induce defense-related genes, which should be considered in its application. The Fast Agro-mediated Seedling Transformation (FAST) method, which involves the co-cultivation and transient transformation of young seedlings with Agrobacterium, was adapted and optimized in Catharanthus roseus. We investigated the optimal conditions for Gus expression by varying the Agrobacterium density (OD600 = 0.29 and 0.50), A. rhizogenes strain (15834 and R1000), and co-cultivation time in liquid (2, 12, or 24 h) followed by incubation time on solid media (1 or 2 days). Transformation efficiency was assessed quantitatively in terms of average GUS intensity per cotyledon surface area and percentage of cotyledons transformed. GUS staining was observed in 100% of cotyledons co-cultivated with A. rhizogenes (OD600 = 0.50) co-transformed with the Mas promoter-driven Gus and pSoup helper plasmids, in the presence of 0.01% v/v Silwet L-77 for 24 h in liquid followed by 2-days on solid media. In addition, we observed that co-cultivation with Agrobacterium strongly induced Zct1 and Orca3, two transcription factors known to regulate defense-related alkaloid biosynthesis in C. roseus. Homologous transcription factors regulate defense responses in many plant species. Therefore, possible induction of defense-related genes by Agro-mediated transformation should be a consideration in experimental design.

Delivery of TRAIL-expressing plasmid DNA to cancer cells in vitro and in vivo using aminoglycoside-derived polymers.

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a death ligand that can preferentially induce apoptosis in cancer cells over normal cells. The transmembrane form of TRAIL has been shown to elicit much stronger activity than its soluble counterpart but delivery is a potential challenge. Here, we investigated the potential of aminoglycoside-derived polymers to enhance delivery of a plasmid (pEF-TRAIL) that expresses the transmembrane form of TRAIL in order to determine the effect on cell death in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Transgene delivery efficacy and toxicity of aminoglycoside-derived polymers was first evaluated using a GFP-expressing plasmid (pEF-GFP) at different plasmid amounts and plasmid : polymer ratios in UMUC3 bladder cancer and HeLa cervical cancer cells. Delivery of the TRAIL plasmid using aminoglycoside-derived polymers resulted in up to 60% cell death in UMUC3 and HeLa cells; TRAIL protein expression was confirmed using Western blots. TRAIL plasmid delivery resulted in a decrease in cellular procaspase-8 and an increase in TRAIL receptor DR5 levels, suggesting a role for the death receptor and caspase cascade in TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. The TRAIL plasmid did not cause cell death in normal human or mouse fibroblasts. The in vivo delivery of the TRAIL plasmid using a paromomycin-derived polymer resulted in significant reduction in tumor burden and increased survival in tumor-bearing live mice.

Chemotherapeutic Drug-Conjugated Microbeads Demonstrate Preferential Binding to Methylated Plasmid DNA.

Plasmid DNA (pDNA) is an attractive therapeutic biomolecule in several diseases including cancer, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Increasing demand for plasmid DNA as a therapeutic biomolecule for transgene expression or vaccine applications necessitate novel approaches to bioprocessing. The synthesis, characterization and evaluation of aminoglycoside-derived hydrogel microbeads (Amikabeads) for pDNA binding is described previously. Here, the generation and evaluation of novel chemotherapeutic drug-conjugated microbeads for application in pDNA binding and recovery is described. Chemotherapeutic drug-conjugated Amikabeads demonstrate higher binding of methylated pDNA compared to unmethylated pDNA in presence of high salt concentrations. Desorption of plasmids from drug-conjugated microbeads is facilitated by the use of organic modifiers. The observed differences in binding methylated versus unmethylated DNA can make drug-conjugated microbeads useful in diagnostic as well as therapeutic applications. These results demonstrate that anti-cancer drugs represent a diverse set of ligands that may be exploited for molecular engineering of novel DNA binding materials for applications in delivery, diagnostics, and biomanufacturing.

An inhibitor screen identifies histone-modifying enzymes as mediators of polymer-mediated transgene expression from plasmid DNA.

Effective transgene expression in mammalian cells relies on successful delivery, cytoplasmic trafficking, and nuclear translocation of the delivered vector, but delivery is impeded by several formidable physicochemical barriers on the surface of and within the target cell. Although methods to overcome cellular exclusion and endosomal entrapment have been studied extensively, strategies to overcome inefficient nuclear entry and subsequent intranuclear barriers to effective transient gene expression have only been sparsely explored. In particular, the role of nuclear packaging of DNA with histone proteins, which governs endogenous gene expression, has not been extensively elucidated in the case of exogenously delivered plasmids. In this work, a parallel screen of small molecule inhibitors of chromatin-modifying enzymes resulted in the identification of class I/II HDACs, sirtuins, LSD1, HATs, and the methyltransferases EZH2 and MLL as targets whose inhibition led to the enhancement of transgene expression following polymer-mediated delivery of plasmid DNA. Quantitative PCR studies revealed that HDAC inhibition enhances the amount of plasmid DNA delivered to the nucleus in UMUC3 human bladder cancer cells. Native chromatin immunoprecipitation (N-ChIP)-qPCR experiments in CHO-K1 cells indicated that plasmids indeed interact with intracellular core Histone H3, and inhibitors of HDAC and LSD1 proteins are able to modulate this interaction. Pair-wise treatments of effective inhibitors led to synergistic enhancement of transgene expression to varying extents in both cell types. Our results demonstrate that the ability to modulate enzymes that play a role in epigenetic processes can enhance the efficacy of non-viral gene delivery, resulting in significant implications for gene therapy and industrial biotechnology.

Folate receptor-targeted aminoglycoside-derived polymers for transgene expression in cancer cells.

Targeted delivery of anticancer therapeutics can potentially overcome the limitations associated with current chemotherapeutic regimens. Folate receptors are overexpressed in several cancers, including ovarian, triple-negative breast and bladder cancers, making them attractive for targeted delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics to these tumors. This work describes the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of folic acid-conjugated, aminoglycoside-derived polymers for targeted delivery of transgenes to breast and bladder cancer cell lines. Transgene expression was significantly higher with FA-conjugated aminoglycoside-derived polymers than with Lipofectamine, and these polymers demonstrated minimal cytotoxicty. Competitive inhibition using free folic acid significantly reduced transgene expression efficacy of folate-targeted polymers, suggesting a role for folate receptor-mediated uptake. High efficacy FA-targeted polymers were employed to deliver a plasmid expressing the TRAIL protein, which induced death in cancer cells. These results indicate that FA-conjugated aminoglycoside-derived polymers are promising for targeted delivery of nucleic acids to cancer cells that overexpress folate receptors.

Jasmonate-dependent alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus Roseus hairy root cultures is correlated with the relative expression of Orca and Zct transcription factors.

The effects of methyl jasmonate (MJ) dosage on terpenoid indole alkaloid (TIA) biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus are correlated with the relative levels of specific MJ-responsive transcription factors. In this study, the expression of transcription factors (Orca, Zct, Gbf, Myc2, At-hook, and Wrky1), TIA pathway genes (G10h, Tdc, Str, and Sgd), and TIA metabolites (secologanin, strictosidine, and tabersonine) were investigated in C. roseus hairy root cultures elicited with a range of MJ dosages (0-1,000 µM) during mid-exponential growth. The highest production of TIA metabolites occurs at 250 µM MJ, increasing by 150-370% compared with untreated controls. At this MJ dosage, the expression of the transcriptional activators (Orca) is dramatically increased (29-40 fold) while the levels of the transcriptional repressors (Zct) remain low (2-7 fold). Simultaneously, the expression of genes coding for key enzymes involved in TIA biosynthesis increases by 8-15 fold. In contrast, high MJ dosages (1,000 µM) inhibit the production of TIA metabolites. This dosage is correlated with elevated expression levels of Zct (up to 40-fold) relative to Orca (13-19-fold) and minimal induction of the TIA biosynthetic genes (0-6 fold). The significant changes in the expression of Orca and Zct with MJ dosage do not correspond to changes in the expression of the early-response transcription factors (AT-hook, Myc2, and Wrky1) believed to regulate Orca and Zct. In summary, these observations suggest that the dependence of alkaloid production on MJ dosage in C. roseus may be partly mediated through the relative levels of Orca and Zct family transcription factors.

Assessing the limitations to terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus hairy root cultures through gene expression profiling and precursor feeding.

The production of pharmaceutically important terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) from Catharanthus roseus is partly regulated at the transcriptional level. In this study, limitations in TIA biosynthesis from C. roseus hairy root cultures were assessed through gene expression profiling and precursor feeding. The transcript levels of key TIA pathway genes (G10h, Tdc, Str, and Sgd) and metabolite levels associated with the TIA pathway (tryptamine, loganin, secologanin, strictosidine, ajmalicine, serpentine, and tabersonine) were monitored using quantitative RT-PCR and HPLC, respectively. In cultures elicited with methyl jasmonate (250 microM MeJA on day 21), G10h, Tdc, Str, and Sgd expression increased by 9.1, 3.1, 6.7, and 8.3-fold, respectively, after 24 h. Up-regulation of gene expression was followed by a 160, 440, and 420% increase in strictosidine, ajmalicine, and tabersonine levels, respectively, after 5 days. Precursors loganin, tryptamine, or their combination were fed to noninduced and MeJA-induced cultures to complement the above studies. TIA production was not significantly enhanced in either noninduced or MeJA-induced cultures with precursor feeding. In noninduced cells, steps downstream of loganin and tryptamine were limiting (SLS, STR, or SGD) because either loganin or tryptamine accumulated in the cells with precursor feeding. These bottlenecks were partly overcome in MeJA-induced cultures as the expression of Str and Sgd genes and TIA production increased. However, secologanin accumulated in MeJA-induced cultures with precursor feeding, suggesting that STR was likely limiting under MeJA-induced conditions.