Efficient transposition of the piggyBac(PB) transposon in mammalian cells and mice      

Transposable elements have been routinely used for genetic manipulation in lower organisms, including generating transgenic animals and insertional mutagenesis. In contrast, the usage of transposons in mice and other vertebrate systems is still limited due to the lack of an efficient transposition system. We have tested the ability of piggyBac (PB), a DNA transposon from the cabbage looper moth Trichoplusia ni, to transpose in mammalian systems. We show that PB elements carrying multiple genes can efficiently transpose in human and mouse cell lines and also in mice. PB permits the expression of the marker genes it carried. 　        这篇被《cell》审稿人称之为landmark的文章将会掀起改变小鼠遗传学研究的热潮，并对人类基因治疗提供了广阔的前景。众多研究者一直试图通过转座子可以进入在基因组的不同位置这一基因载体来研究基因功能，但是在哺乳动物长期以来缺乏高效实用的转座子。复旦大学发育生物学研究所的科研人员首次将一种飞蛾的PB转座子应用到小鼠等哺乳动物细胞来研究基因的功能，该转座子可以高效的导入到小鼠等哺乳动物细胞株中并稳定表达，从而建立了一种新的转基因技术体系。这种方法可以大规模的快速寻找和研究目的基因、建立多种疾病模型和药物靶点研究体系，为人类疾病治疗提供了新的途径。

想要了解更多，请看原文