Genomic safe harbors (GSHs) provide ideal integration sites for generating transgenic organisms and cells and can be of great benefit in advancing the basic and applied biology of a particular species. Here we report the identification of GSHs in a dry-preservable insect cell line, Pv11, which derives from the sleeping chironomid, Polypedilum vanderplanki, and similar to the larvae of its progenitor species exhibits extreme desiccation tolerance. To identify GSHs, we carried out genome analysis of transgenic cell lines established by random integration of exogenous genes and found four candidate loci. Targeted knock-in was performed into these sites and the phenotypes of the resulting transgenic cell lines were examined. Precise integration was achieved for three candidate GSHs, and in all three cases integration did not alter the anhydrobiotic ability or the proliferation rate of the cell lines. We therefore suggest these genomic loci represent GSHs in Pv11 cells. Indeed, we successfully constructed a knock-in system and introduced an expression unit into one of these GSHs. We therefore identified several GSHs in Pv11 cells and developed a new technique for producing transgenic Pv11 cells without affecting the phenotype.
Keywords: Pv11 cells; anhydrobiosis; cell engineering; genomic safe harbor sites; transgenesis.