A systematic identification of Kolobok superfamily transposons in Trichomonas vaginalis and sequence analysis on related transposases

Transposons are sequence elements widely distributed among genomes of all three kingdoms of life, providing genomic changes and playing significant roles in genome evolution. Trichomonas vaginalis is an excellent model system for transposon study since its genome （- 160 Mb） has been sequenced and is composed of - 65% transposons and other repetitive elements. In this study, we primarily report the identification of Kolobok-type transposons （termed tvBac） in T. vaginalis and the results of transposase sequence analysis. We categorized 24 novel subfamilies of the Kolobok element, including one autonomous subfamily and 23 non-autonomous subfamilies. We also identified a novel H2CH motif in tvBac transposases based on multiple sequence alignment. In addition, we supposed that tvBac and Mutator transposons may have evolved independently from a common ancestor according to our phylogenetic analysis. Our results provide basic information for the understanding of the function and evolution of tvBac transposons in particular and other related transposon families in general.

Prokaryotic expression of goldfish Tgf2 transposase with optimal codons and its enzyme activity

Tgf2 transposase(Tgf2-TPase),a hAT transposase from goldfish,plays an important role in fish transgenic applications.Previously,the production of the recombinant Tgf2-TPase protein required rigorous fermentation at low temperatures(22℃)and early log phase induction(OD600=0.3–0.4)in Rosetta 1(DE3)Escherichia coli lines.In order to better express the Tgf2-TPase and detect its enzyme activity,83 rare codons in Tgf2-TPase were optimized and designated Tgf2-TPase^(83).The expression results showed that the soluble recombinant Tgf2-TPase83 was highly expressed at 30℃ and was inducible at an OD600 of 0.5–0.6 in the same prokaryotic expression system.After purification by affinity chromatography,Tgf2-TPase83 with codon optimization had higher enzyme activity than the Tgf2-TPase control.Comparison of different preservation methods(freezedrying at−80℃,storage in 20%-glycerol,8%-sucrose,4%-mannitol),revealed storage of Tgf2-TPase^(83) in glycerol helped to preserve its DNase digestion activity.Furthermore,size exclusion chromatography suggested that the purified Tgf2-TPase^(83) could recognize and bind to DNA probes containing a terminal inverted repeat(TIR)and a subterminal repeat(STR)sequence of the Tgf2 transposon.Overall,the results showed that optimizing the 83 codons of Tgf2 transposase can simplify the fermentation process and improve the enzyme activity.We propose that the production of the Tgf2-Tpase83 protein in a soluble and active form could provide an alternative tool for genetic modification of fish.

Hi-Tag:a simple and efficient method for identifying protein-mediated long-range chromatin interactions with low cell numbers

Protein-mediated chromatin interactions can be revealed by coupling proximity-based ligation with chromatin immunoprecipitation.However,these techniques require complex experimental procedures and millions of cells per experiment,which limits their widespread application in life science research.Here,we develop a novel method,Hi-Tag,that identifies high-resolution,long-range chromatin interactions through transposase tagmentation and chromatin proximity ligation(with a phosphorothioate-modified linker).Hi-Tag can be implemented using as few as 100,000 cells,involving simple experimental procedures that can be completed within 1.5 days.Meanwhile,Hi-Tag is capable of using its own data to identify the binding sites of specific proteins,based on which,it can acquire accurate interaction information.Our results suggest that Hi-Tag has great potential for advancing chromatin interaction studies,particularly in the context of limited cell availability.

Improvement in Tol2 transposon for efficient large-cargo capacity transgene applications in cultured cells and zebrafish(Danio rerio)

Most viruses and transposons serve as effective carriers for the introduction of foreign DNA up to 11 kb into vertebrate genomes.However,their activity markedly diminishes with payloads exceeding 11 kb.Expanding the payload capacity of transposons could facilitate more sophisticated cargo designs,improving the regulation of expression and minimizing mutagenic risks associated with molecular therapeutics,metabolic engineering,and transgenic animal production.In this study,we improved the Tol2 transposon by increasing protein expression levels using a translational enhancer(QBI SP163,ST)and enhanced the nuclear targeting ability using the nuclear localization protein H2B(SHT).The modified Tol2 and ST transposon efficiently integrated large DNA cargos into human cell cultures(H1299),comparable to the well-established super PiggyBac system.Furthermore,mRNA from ST and SHT showed a significant increase in transgene delivery efficiency of large DNA payloads(8 kb,14 kb,and 24 kb)into zebrafish(Danio rerio).This study presents a modified Tol2 transposon as an enhanced nonviral vector for the delivery of large DNA payloads in transgenic applications.

Codon Usage Biases of Transposable Elements and Host Nuclear Genes in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa

Transposable elements （TEs） are mobile genetic entities ubiquitously distributed in nearly all genomes. High frequency of codons ending in A/T in TEs has been previously observed in some species. In this study, the biases in nucleotide composition and codon usage of TE transposases and host nuclear genes were investigated in the AT-rich genome of Arabidopsis thaliana and the GC-rich genome of Oryza sativa. Codons ending in A/T are more frequently used by TEs compared with their host nuclear genes. A remarkable positive correlation between highly expressed nuclear genes and C/G-ending codons were detected in O. sativa （r=0.944 and 0.839, respectively, P〈0.0001） but not in A. thaliana, indicating a close association between the GC content and gene expression level in monocot species. In both species, TE codon usage biases are similar to that of weakly expressed genes. The expression and activity of TEs may be strictly controlled in plant genomes. Mutation bias and selection pressure have simultaneously acted on the TE evolution in A. thaliana and O. sativa. The consistently observed biases of nucleotide composition and codon usage of TEs may also provide a useful clue to accurately detect TE sequences in different species.

Sustained high level transgene expression in mammalian cells mediated by the optimized piggyBac transposon system

Sustained,high level transgene expression in mammalian cells is desired in many cases for studying gene functions.Traditionally,stable transgene expression has been accomplished by using retroviral or lentiviral vectors.However,such viral vector-mediated transgene expression is often at low levels and can be reduced over time due to low copy numbers and/or chromatin remodeling repression.The piggyBac transposon has emerged as a promising nonviral vector system for efficient gene transfer into mammalian cells.Despite its inherent advantages over lentiviral and retroviral systems,piggyBac system has not been widely used,at least in part due to their limited manipulation flexibilities.Here,we seek to optimize piggyBac-mediated transgene expression and generate a more efficient,user-friendly piggyBac system.By engineering a panel of versatile piggyBac vectors and constructing recombinant adenoviruses expressing piggyBac transposase(PBase),we demonstrate that adenovirusmediated PBase expression significantly enhances the integration efficiency and expression level of transgenes in mesenchymal stem cells and osteosarcoma cells,compared to that obtained from co-transfection of the CMV-PBase plasmid.We further determine the drug selection timeline to achieve optimal stable transgene expression.Moreover,we demonstrate that the transgene copy number of piggyBac-mediated integration is approximately 10 times higher than that mediated by retroviral vectors.Using the engineered tandem expression vector,we show that three transgenes can be simultaneously expressed in a single vector with high efficiency.Thus,these results strongly suggest that the optimized piggyBac system is a valuable tool for making stable cell lines with sustained,high transgene expression.