Generation of Knock-In Pigs Carrying Oct4-tdTomato Reporter through CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genome Engineering.

The porcine pluripotent cells that can generate germline chimeras have not been developed. The Oct4 promoter-based fluorescent reporter system, which can be used to monitor pluripotency, is an important tool to generate authentic porcine pluripotent cells. In this study, we established a porcine Oct4 reporter system, wherein the endogenous Oct4 promoter directly controls red fluorescent protein (RFP). 2A-tdTomato sequence was inserted to replace the stop codon of the porcine Oct4 gene by homogenous recombination (HR). Thus, the fluorescence can accurately show the activation of endogenous Oct4. Porcine fetal fibroblast (PFF) lines with knock-in (KI) of the tdTomato gene in the downstream of endogenous Oct4 promoter were achieved using the CRISPR/CAS9 system. Transgenic PFFs were used as donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Strong RFP expression was detected in the blastocysts and genital ridges of SCNT fetuses but not in other tissues. Two viable transgenic piglets were also produced by SCNT. Reprogramming of fibroblasts from the fetuses and piglets by another round of SCNT resulted in tdTomato reactivation in reconstructed blastocysts. Result indicated that a KI porcine reporter system to monitor the pluripotent status of cells was successfully developed.

Generation of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene-targeted pigs via somatic cell nuclear transfer.

The domestic pig has been widely used as an important large animal model. Precise and efficient genetic modification in pig provides a great promise in biomedical research. Recently, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) system has been successfully used to produce many gene-targeted animals. However, these animals have been generated by co-injection of Cas9 mRNA and single-guide RNA (sgRNA) into one-cell stage embryos, which mostly resulted in mosaicism of the modification. One or two rounds of further breeding should be performed to obtain homozygotes with identical genotype and phenotype. To address this issue, gene-targeted somatic cells can be used as donor for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to produce gene-targeted animals with single and identical mutations. In this study, we applied Cas9/sgRNAs to effectively direct gene editing in porcine fetal fibroblasts and then mutant cell colonies were used as donor to generate homozygous gene-targeted pigs through single round of SCNT. As a result, we successfully obtained 15 tyrosinase (TYR) biallelic mutant pigs and 20 PARK2 and PINK1 double-gene knockout (KO) pigs. They were all homozygous and no off-target mutagenesis was detected by comprehensive analysis. TYR (-/-) pigs showed typical albinism and the expression of parkin and PINK1 were depleted in PARK2 (-/-)/PINK1 (-/-) pigs. The results demonstrated that single- or double-gene targeted pigs can be effectively achieved by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system combined with SCNT without mosaic mutation and detectable off-target effects. This gene-editing system provides an efficient, rapid, and less costly manner to generate genetically modified pigs or other large animals.

Highly efficient generation of GGTA1 biallelic knockout inbred mini-pigs with TALENs.

Inbred mini-pigs are ideal organ donors for future human xenotransplantations because of their clear genetic background, high homozygosity, and high inbreeding endurance. In this study, we chose fibroblast cells from a highly inbred pig line called Banna mini-pig inbred line (BMI) as donor nuclei for nuclear transfer, combining with transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and successfully generated α-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GGTA1) gene biallelic knockout (KO) pigs. To validate the efficiency of TALEN vectors, in vitro-transcribed TALEN mRNAs were microinjected into one-cell stage parthenogenetically activated porcine embryos. The efficiency of indel mutations at the GGTA1-targeting loci was as high as 73.1% (19/26) among the parthenogenetic blastocysts. TALENs were co-transfected into porcine fetal fibroblasts of BMI with a plasmid containing neomycin gene. The targeting efficiency reached 89.5% (187/209) among the survived cell clones after a 10 d selection. More remarkably 27.8% (58/209) of colonies were biallelic KO. Five fibroblast cell lines with biallelic KO were chosen as nuclear donors for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Three miniature piglets with biallelic mutations of the GGTA1 gene were achieved. Gal epitopes on the surface of cells from all the three biallelic KO piglets were completely absent. The fibroblasts from the GGTA1 null piglets were more resistant to lysis by pooled complement-preserved normal human serum than those from wild-type pigs. These results indicate that a combination of TALENs technology with SCNT can generate biallelic KO pigs directly with high efficiency. The GGTA1 null piglets with inbred features created in this study can provide a new organ source for xenotransplantation research.

Comparison of the efficiency of Banna miniature inbred pig somatic cell nuclear transfer among different donor cells.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is an important method of breeding quality varieties, expanding groups, and preserving endangered species. However, the viability of SCNT embryos is poor, and the cloned rate of animal production is low in pig. This study aims to investigate the gene function and establish a disease model of Banna miniature inbred pig. SCNT with donor cells derived from fetal, newborn, and adult fibroblasts was performed, and the cloning efficiencies among the donor cells were compared. The results showed that the cleavage and blastocyst formation rates did not significantly differ between the reconstructed embryos derived from the fetal (74.3% and 27.4%) and newborn (76.4% and 21.8%) fibroblasts of the Banna miniature inbred pig (P>0.05). However, both fetal and newborn fibroblast groups showed significantly higher rates than the adult fibroblast group (61.9% and 13.0%; P<0.05). The pregnancy rates of the recipients in the fetal and newborn fibroblast groups (60% and 80%, respectively) were higher than those in the adult fibroblast group. Eight, three, and one cloned piglet were obtained from reconstructed embryos of the fetal, newborn, and adult fibroblasts, respectively. Microsatellite analyses results indicated that the genotypes of all cloning piglets were identical to their donor cells and that the genetic homozygosity of the Banna miniature inbred pig was higher than those of the recipients. Therefore, the offspring was successfully cloned using the fetal, newborn, and adult fibroblasts of Banna miniature inbred pig as donor cells.

[Cloning of splicing variants of alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase cDNA of Chinese Banna Minipig inbred line and its expression in human cells].

OBJECTIVE: To study the transfection and expression of the splicing variants of alpha1, 3-galactosyltransferase cDNA of Chinese Banna Minipig Inbred Line (BMI) in human A549 cells. METHODS: Full length of alpha1,3-GT gene cDNA was amplified by RT-PCR from total RNA of BMI liver tissue and cloned into T-A cloning vector. Two different splicing variants of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA were confirmed by sequencing 15 positive clones and inserted respectively into pEGFP-N1 to construct eukaryotic expression vectors pN-GT1 and pN-GT2. The vectors were transfected into human lung adenocacinoma A549 cells and the expression of alpha1,3-GT gene was detected by RT-PCR. The expression of the a-Gal epitopes on transfected cells was confirmed under fluorescent microscope and by flow cytometry using FITC-BS-IB4 lectin. The binding of IgM and complement C3 in human serum to a-Gal on transfected cells were measured by flow cytometry using FITC-anti-IgM and FITC-anti-C3. RESULTS: There was no other splicing variants of alpha1,3-GT cDNA found in BMI except GT1 and GT2, which were 1116 bp and 1080 bp in length respectively, the latter lacks exon 5. The expression of BMI alpha1,3-GT mRNA and the synthesis of a-Gal on A549 cells transfected with either pN-GT1 or pN-GT2 were detected, and the binding of IgM nature antibodies and complements C3 in human serum on transfected A549 cells were observed. The expression level of alpha-Gal and the deposits of IgM and C3 on transffected cells showed no significant difference between pN-GT1 and pN-GT2. CONCLUSION: The splicing variants of alpha1,3-GT cDNA of BMI could express in human cells, which provide the basis for genetic manipulation of the alpha1,3-GT of BMI for future xenotransplantation studies.

[Cloning of Chinese Banna minipig inbred-line alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase gene and construction of its recombinant eukaryotic expression vector].

This study sought to clone Chinese Banna minipig inbred-line (BMI) alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase (alpha1,3-GT) gene and construct its recombinant eukaryotic expression vector. Total RNA was isolated from BMI liver. Full length cDNA of alpha1,3-GT gene was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into pMD18-T vector to sequence. Subsequently, alpha1,3-GT gene was inserted into pEGFP-N1 to construct eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1-GT. Then the reconstructed plasmid pEGFP-N1-GT was transiently transfected into human lung cancer cell line A549. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA in transfected cells was detected by RT-PCR. FITC-BS-IB4 lectin was used in the direct immunofluorescence method, which was performed to observe the alpha-Gal synthesis function of BMI alpha1,3-GT in transfected cells. The results showed that full length of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA was 1116 bp. BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA sequence was highly homogenous with those of mouse and bovine, and was exactly the same as the complete sequence of those of swine, pEGFP-N1-GT was confirmed by enzyme digestion and PCR. The expression of alpha1,3-GT mRNA was detected in A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. The expression of alpha-Gal was observed on the membrane of A549 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-GT. Successful cloning of BMI alpha1,3-GT cDNA and construction of its eukaryotic expression vector have established a foundation for further research and application of BMI alpha1,3-GT in the fields of xenotransplantation and immunological therapy of cancer.

Expressed sequence tags analysis of a liver tissue cDNA library from a highly inbred minipig line.

BACKGROUND: Porcine liver performing efficient physiological functions in the human body is prerequisite for successful liver xenotransplantation. However, the protein differences between pig and human remain largely unexplored. Therefore, we investigated the liver expression profile of a highly inbred minipig line. METHODS: A cDNA library was constructed from liver tissue of an inbred Banna minipig. Two hundred randomly selected clones were sequenced then analysed by BLAST programme. RESULTS: Alignments of the sequences showed 44% encoded previously known porcine genes. Among the 56% unknown genes, sequences of 72 clones had high similarities with known genes of other species and the similarities to human were mostly above 0.80. The other 40 clones showing no similarity to genes in National Centre for Biotechnology Information are newly discovered, expressed sequence tags specific to liver of inbred Banna minipig. Twenty-two of the 200 clones had full length encoding regions, 38 complete 5' terminal sequences and 140 complete 3' terminal sequences. CONCLUSION: These newly discovered expression sequences may be an important resource for research involving physiological characteristics and medical usage of inbred pigs and contribute to matching studies in xenotransplantation.

Full-length cDNA cloning and protein three-dimensional structure modeling of porcine prothrombin.

Prothrombin is a vitamin K-dependent serine protease and plays pivotal roles in both procoagulant and anticoagulant pathway of hemostasis. In this study, we cloned the full-length cDNA of porcine prothrombin by cDNA library screening and SMART RACE technique. The full-length cDNA is 2027 bp, with a 1869 bp Open Reading Frame (ORF) coding 623 amino acids. The deduced protein of porcine prothrombin contains signal peptide, propeptide, Gla domain, two kringle domains and trypsin domain. Porcine prothrombin shares 86.15% nucleotide similarity and 83% amino acid similarity with human prothrombin. The trypsin domain is highly conserved between the two species with 92.1% amino acid identity. Macromolecular interaction sites comparison between porcine and human prothrombin suggests that the Gla domain in porcine prothrombin contains an additional potential gamma-carboxyglutamic acid site. However, a thrombin cleavage site (Arg284-Thr285) in its light chain is lost. When thrombin heavy chain is concerned, the most important functional sites such as catalytic triad DHS, RGD site, Na+ binding site and anion-binding exosite-I and II are highly conserved. However, great differences have been observed between residues 145 and 158 of heavy chain which is associated with thrombomodulin binding. Two important limited proteolysis sites at Ala150 and Lys154 were lost in porcine sequence, which would affect epsilon-thrombin and gammaT-thrombin generation. Comparison on 3-D protein models demonstrates that these proteins are obviously different in autolysis loop (Lys145 to Gly155). Compared with that of human prothrombin, variation at critical recognition sites would likely alter its binding affinity and reaction velocity, which would contribute to coagulation disorder when porcine liver is transplanted into human body.

[Quantitative study on copy numbers of porcine endogenous retroviruses in genome of Banna miniature swine inbred line].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the copy numbers of porcine endogenous retroviruses in genome of Banna miniature swines for screening of donors in xenotransplantation with porcine transplants. METHODS: The genomic DNA of peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) of 50 Banna miniature swines in 4 inbred sublines and 5 European Large White Pigs was extracted for the detection to pol, envA, envB, envC and envA/C recombinant in PERVs with real-time quantitative/semi-quantitative PCR and normal PCR. RESULTS: PCR products of pol, envA and envB of PERV could be obtained from all the Banna samples, and the mean amount of these products was 24.2+/-9.4,13.1+/-8.4,16.4+/-9.8 respectively and was significantly different among the inbred herds (P<0.01). The envC and envA/C were not amplified. CONCLUSION: The copy numbers of pol, envA and envB genes of PERV in porcine genome were significantly different among the inbred herds of Banna miniature swines, and envC and envA/C were absent in genome of Banna Miniature Swines.

[Antigen measurement and biomechanical characteristics of the inbred-line Banna mini-pig acellular bone matrix].

In this study, we prepared the acellular bone matrix of the inbred-line Banna mini-pig by using tissue engineering method and evaluated its possible application in bone tissue engineering. Histological analysis, xenoantigen expression and biomechanical measurement were performed on the matrix. HE staining and scanning electron microscopy showed the cellular components were almost removed. Immunohischemical result demonstrated that the xenoantigen, alpha-gal,was also eliminated. There was no statistically significant difference between the acellular bone matrix group and control group. The acellular bone matrix can provide appropriate space structure and strength for grafts. In conclusion, our data suggest that acellular bone matrix is a new kind of ideal bone scaffold material.

Comparison of hepatic coagulant, fibrinolytic, and anticoagulant functions between Banna Minipig Inbred line and humans.

BACKGROUND: As an ideal candidate for xenotransplantation, the compatibility of physiological porcine organs with those of humans is an essential premise. In this study, we analyzed hepatic coagulant, fibrinolytic, and anticoagulant functions between Banna Minipig Inbreds (BMIs) and humans to evaluate such hepatic compatibility. METHODS: BMI factors II, V, VII, X, and XII were added to the corresponding factor-deficient human plasma to determine prothrombin times (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin times (APTT). Human tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) was added to both BMI and human plasma to determine plasmin activity. The antithrombin-III (AT-III) activity of plasma was analyzed with the STA-Stago autoanalyzer using an AT-III assay kit. RESULTS: Both PT and APTT were reduced but within normal parameters when BMI factors II, V, VII, X, and XII were added to the corresponding factor-deficient human plasma. The activities of BMI coagulation factors II, V, VII, X, and XII were 3.2, 3.7, 4.7, 2.9, and 4.5 times those of humans, respectively. The activity of plasmin was significantly higher in BMI plasma than in humans when human t-PA was added to both. The normal range of human AT-III activity was 90-108% while BMI AT-III was 124.50 +/- 2.38%. CONCLUSIONS: The activities of coagulation factors and AT-III were higher in BMIs than in humans. BMI coagulation factors XII, VII, and X trigger human intrinsic, extrinsic, and common pathways, respectively, which functioned normally. In addition, BMI plasminogen could be activated by human t-PA.

[Comparison of hepatic protein synthesis function between Banna Minipig Inbred Line and human].

OBJECTIVE: This is a research aimed at comparing the hepatic protein synthesis function of Banna Minipig Inbred Line (BMI) with that of human so as to evaluate the possibility of porcine liver replacement of human counterpart. METHODS: The venous blood samples from BMI and volunteer participants were collected. The albumin and total protein in the separated sera were tested using Beckman delta CX7 autoanalyzer, and serum protein electrophoresis was performed. RESULTS: No significant differences in albumin and in the percentage and concentration of globulins synthesized in liver (alpha1-, alpha2- and beta-globulin) between BMI and human were observed. The percentage and concentration of gamma-globulin synthesized in the lymphocytes of BMI were significantly higher than those of human. CONCLUSION: The above findings suggested the similarity between BMI liver and human liver in respect to albumin and alpha, beta-globulin synthesis.

[The quantity analysis of reverse transcriptase in porcine endogenous retrovirus expressed in Banna minipig inbred].

Quantitative RT(reverse transcriptase) assay was established to detect the reverse transcriptase in plasma of thirty-four Chinese Banna minipig inbred in this work. The protocol was given in the RT kit (Roche), using HIV-1 as the positive control of the kit and supernatant of PK-15 as the PERV positive control respectively. The results show that positive reverse transcriptase reaction can be detected in the plasma of the pigs, but the levels are much lower than that of HIV-1 and lower than that of PERV in supernatant of PK-15.