High-efficiency production of human serum albumin in the posterior silk glands of transgenic silkworms, Bombyx mori L

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 19;13(1):e0191507. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191507. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Human serum albumin (HSA) is an important biological preparation with a variety of biological functions in clinical applications. In this study, the mRNA of a fusion transposase derived from the pESNT-PBase plasmid and a pBHSA plasmid containing the HSA gene under the control of a fibroin light chain (FL) promoter were co-injected into fertilized eggs. Fifty-six transgenic silkworm pedigrees expressing theexogenous recombinant HSA (rHSA) in the posterior silk glands (PSGs) with stable inheritance were successfully obtained. The SDS-PAGE and Western blot results confirmed that the rHSA was secreted into the transgenic silkworm cocoon, and the rHSA could be easily extracted with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). In our research, the isolated highest amount rHSA constituted up to 29.1% of the total soluble protein of the cocoon shell, indicating that the transgenic silkworm produced an average of 17.4 μg/mg of rHSA in the cocoon shell. The production of soluble rHSA in the PSGs by means of generating transgenic silkworms is a novel approach, whereby a large amount of virus-free and functional HSA can be produced through the simple rearing of silkworms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Bombyx / genetics*
  • Bombyx / growth & development
  • Bombyx / metabolism*
  • Fibroins / genetics
  • Gene Expression
  • Genes, Insect
  • Humans
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Recombinant Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Serum Albumin, Human / biosynthesis*
  • Serum Albumin, Human / genetics*

Substances

  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Fibroins
  • Serum Albumin, Human

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (No.2012CB114601) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.2016M591989). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.