摘要：Engineered sequence-specific zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) make the highly efficient modification of eukaryotic genomes ***,most current strategies for developing zinc finger nucleases with customized sequence specificities require the construction of numerous tandem arrays of zinc finger proteins (ZFPs),and subsequent largescale in vitro validation of their DNA binding affinities and specificities via bacterial *** labor and expertise required in this complex process limits the broad adoption of ZFN *** effective computational assisted design strategy will lower the complexity of the production of a pair of functional *** we used the FoldX force field to build 3D models of 420 ZFP-DNA complexes based on zinc finger arrays developed by the Zinc Finger Consortium using OPEN (oligomerized pool engineering).Using nonlinear and linear regression analysis,we found that the calculated protein-DNA binding energy in a modeled ZFP-DNA complex strongly correlates to the failure rate of the zinc finger array to show significant ZFN activity in human *** our models,less than 5% of the three-finger arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies lower than 13.132 kcal mol 1 fail to form active ZFNs in human *** contrast,for arrays with calculated protein-DNA binding energies higher than 5 kcal mol 1,as many as 40% lacked ZFN activity in human ***,we suggest that the FoldX force field can be useful in reducing the failure rate and increasing efficiency in the design of ZFNs.

摘要：应用锌指核酸酶(Zinc Finger Nuclease,ZFN)和序列同源的供体(Donor)作为模板,借助DNA的同源重组修复机制能够对动物基因组实现精确的遗传修饰。目前关于供体长度与ZFN介导的同源重组修复效率相关性的报道相对较少。本研究构建了一对靶向EGFP的ZFN并鉴定了活性,同时设计了一系列不同长度的供体,应用流式细胞分析术,在稳定整合了带有移码突变的EGFP基因的CHO细胞中系统分析了供体长度对ZFN介导的同源重组修复效率的影响。结果发现当同源臂单臂仅有50 bp时,即可有效支持ZFN介导的同源同组,随着同源臂长度的延伸,同源重组的效率有所提高,但要实现高效率的同源重组(较传统方法提高104倍),同源臂单臂长度需要延长至1 000 bp以上。这为今后如何设计合适的Donor,以提高ZFN等基因组编辑工具介导的同源重组效率提供了借鉴。

摘要：哺乳动物黑色素的合成依赖于酪氨酸的氧化作用,而酪氨酸酶(Tyr)是催化酪氨酸氧化反应的关键酶,当外源Tyr基因整合进白毛色小鼠基因组中,会使它获得黑色素合成的能力,表现出与原来不同的毛色表型。为方便、快捷地获得Tyr基因整合的小鼠,构建了一个无启动子的pTyr-2A-DsRed同源重组质粒供体,选择Rosa26的第一个内含子作为外源基因整合的靶位点,设计了切割位点几乎一致的ZFN、TALEN和CRISPR/Cas9系统。通过流式对比分析C 2C 12细胞中红色荧光蛋白DsRed的表达水平,比较了3种基因组编辑工具介导的外源基因定点整合效率,结果发现CRISPR/Cas9的效率最高,在此基础上,利用CRISPR/Cas9将供体整合到小鼠胚胎干细胞中,筛选单细胞克隆进行囊胚腔注射和胚胎移植,获得一只存活的嵌合体小鼠,表现出白毛中夹杂黑毛的表型,表明整合到小鼠Rosa26的Tyr基因可以正常表达。

摘要：A recent study of significant research value carried out at the State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou,