BACKGROUND A promoter capable of driving high-level transgene expression in oviduct cells is important for developing transgenic chickens capable of producing therapeutic proteins, including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), in the whites of laid eggs. Ovalbumin promoters can be used as oviduct-specific regulatory sequences in transgenic chickens, but their promoter activities are not high, accordi...

Human and animal diabetes mellitus were controlled by a dietary treatment supplemented with either a sulfonylurea drug or insulin injection. Insulin injections were inconvenient and the hypoglycemia induced by insulin-overdose could be fatal. Sulfonylurea drugs were administered orally, however, do not typically provide satisfactory control of blood glucose as a starting treatment in 25% 30% pa...

Viral-vector mediated gene transfer to cerebellar Purkinje neurons in vivo is a promising avenue for gene therapy of cerebellar ataxias and for genetic manipulation in functional studies of animal models of cerebellar disease. Here, we report the results of experiments designed to identify efficient methods for viral transduction of adult murine Purkinje neurons in vivo. For these analyses, sev...

We developed a novel conditional self-inactivating (C-SIN) vector, TL-SN, by replacement of the enhancer-promoter of the 3' long terminal repeat of Moloney murine leukemia virus with a synthetic tetracycline operator-cytomegalovirus promoter (tetP) from the tetracycline-responsive expression system (TRES). The other component of the TRES, a chimeric transactivator (tTA), was stably incorporated...

We report the development of a novel replication-competent adenoviral vector, Ad-hOC-E1, containing a single bidirectional human osteocalcin (hOC) promoter to drive both the early viral E1A and E1B gene. This vector selectively replicated in OC-expressing but not non-OC-expressing cells, with viral replication enhanced at least 10-fold on vitamin D(3) exposure. Both the artificial TATA-box and ...

Artemis is a single-stranded endonuclease, deficiency of which results in a radiation-sensitive form of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-A) most effectively treated by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation and potentially treatable by administration of genetically corrected autologous HSCs. We previously reported cytotoxicity associated with Artemis overexpression and s...

Viruses are used as expression vectors for protein synthesis, immunology research, vaccines, and therapeutics. Advantages of poxvirus vectors include the accommodation of large amounts of heterologous DNA, the presence of a cytoplasmic site of transcription, and high expression levels. On the other hand, competition of approximately 200 viral genes with the target gene for expression and immune...

The genomes of more than 50 organisms have now been manipulated due to rapid advancement of gene editing technology. One way to perform gene editing in the mouse using the CRISPR/CAS system, guide RNA (gRNA) and CAS9 mRNA transcribed in vitro are microinjected into fertilized eggs that are then allowed to develop to term. As a rule, gRNAs are tested first in tissue culture cells and the one wit...

Strains of the gastrointestinal species Lactobacillus reuteri were electrotransformed with plasmid constructs containing the endo-1,3-1,4-beta-glucanase gene (bglM) of Bacillus macerans. The enzyme was expressed and secreted by the lactobacilli. A plasmid construct containing the bglM gene lacking its promoter was derived and was demonstrated to be useful as a promoter probe vector.