A focused library of twenty-one cationic poly(amino ethers) was synthesized following ring-opening polymerization of two diglycidyl ethers by different oligoamines. The polymers were screened in parallel for plasmid DNA (pDNA) delivery, and transgene expression efficacies of individual polymers were compared to those of 25 kDa polyethylenimine (PEI), a current standard for polymer-mediated tran...

Bt protein content in transgenic insect resistant (Bt) maize may vary between tissues within plants and between plants growing under different environmental conditions. However, it is unknown whether and how Bt protein content correlates with transgene expression, and whether this relationship is influenced by stressful environmental conditions. Two Bt maize varieties containing the same transg...

Ssm1 is responsible for the mouse strain-specific DNA methylation of the transgene HRD. In adult mice of the C57BL/6 (B6) strain, the transgene is methylated at essentially all CpGs. However, when the transgene is bred into the DBA/2 (D2) strain, it is almost completely unmethylated. Strain-specific methylation arises during differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells. Here we show that Ssm1 c...

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is the most abundant neuropeptide detected in the mammalian brain, and is found throughout the central and peripheral nervous system. This peptide is a proposed regulator of appetite, blood pressure, and pituitary hormone release. Previous experiments have demonstrated the ability of 5' sequences within the human NPY gene to promote transcription in cultured neuronal cells....

Using grafting procedures, we investigated the transmission of co-suppression of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase host genes and transgenes and of post-transcriptional silencing of a uidA transgene encoding glucuronidase in tobacco. We demonstrate that silencing is transmitted with 100% efficiency from silenced stocks to non-silenced scions expressing the corresponding transgene. Transmi...

Fast onset and high-level neurospecific transgene expression in vivo is of importance for many areas in neuroscience, from basic to translational, and can significantly reduce the amount of vector load required to maintain transgene expression in vivo. In this study, we tested various cis elements to optimize transgene expression at transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and posttranslational le...

Site-specific recombination technologies are powerful new tools for the manipulation of genomic DNA in insects that can improve transgenesis strategies such as targeting transgene insertions, allowing transgene cassette exchange and DNA mobilization for transgene stabilization. However, understanding the fitness cost implications of these manipulations for transgenic strain applications is crit...

Plump et al 1 reported in 1994 that the expression of a human transgene for apoA-I, the major apolipoprotein of HDL, in apoE knockout mice dramatically reduced lesion formation. In the present issue of Circulation, Rong et al2 demonstrate that the composition and structure of advanced atherosclerotic plaques can be significantly altered by the expression of this same transgene. Rong and colleag...

Integration of transgenic DNA into the plant genome was investigated in 13 transgenic oat (Avena sativa L.) lines produced using microprojectile bombardment with one or two cotransformed plasmids. In all transformation events, the transgenic DNA integrated into the plant genome consisted of intact transgene copies that were accompanied by multiple, rearranged, and/or truncated transgene fragmen...

Transgenic animals have been used for years to study gene function, produce important proteins, and generate models for the study of human diseases. However, inheritance and expression instability of the transgene in transgenic animals is a major limitation. Copy number and promoter methylation are known to regulate gene expression, but no report has systematically examined their effect on tran...