Cell-penetrating peptide-driven Cre recombination in porcine primary cells and generation of marker-free pigs

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 9;13(1):e0190690. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190690. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have been increasingly used to deliver various molecules, both in vitro and in vivo. However, there are no reports of CPPs being used in porcine fetal fibroblasts (PFFs). The increased use of transgenic pigs for basic research and biomedical applications depends on the availability of technologies for efficient genetic-modification of PFFs. Here, we report that three CPPs (CPP5, TAT, and R9) can efficiently deliver active Cre recombinase protein into PFFs via an energy-dependent endocytosis pathway. The three CPP-Cre proteins can enter PFFs and subsequently perform recombination with different efficiencies. The recombination efficacy of CPP5-Cre was found to be nearly 90%. The rate-limiting step for CPP-Cre-mediated recombination was the step of endosome escape. HA2 and chloroquine were found to improve the recombination efficiency of TAT-Cre. Furthermore, we successfully obtained marker-free transgenic pigs using TAT-Cre and CPP5-Cre. We provide a framework for the development of CPP-based farm animal transgenic technologies that would be beneficial to agriculture and biomedicine.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • Cell-Penetrating Peptides / metabolism*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Integrases / metabolism*
  • Protein Transport
  • Recombination, Genetic*
  • Swine

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Cell-Penetrating Peptides
  • Cre recombinase
  • Integrases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Transgenic Breeding Project of China (2013ZX08006001 and 2014ZX08006006).