Wuebbles Ryan, Jones Peter L
B107 Chemical and Life Sciences Laboratory, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Transgenic Res. 2007 Jun;16(3):377-84. doi: 10.1007/s11248-007-9076-0. Epub 2007 Feb 15.
The expanding roles of telomeres in epigenetic gene regulation, nuclear organization, and human disease have necessitated the establishment of model organisms in which to study telomere function under normal developmental conditions. We present an efficient system for generating numerous vertebrate animals containing engineered telomeres using a Xenopus laevis transgenesis technique. Our results indicate Xenopus zygotes efficiently recognize telomeric repeats at chromosome break points and form telomeric complexes thus generating a new telomere. The resulting transgenic animals progress through normal development and successfully metamorphose into froglets despite the chromosome breakage. Overall, this presents an efficient mechanism for generating engineered telomeres in a vertebrate system and provides an opportunity to investigate epigenetic aspects of telomere function during normal vertebrate development.
端粒在表观遗传基因调控、细胞核组织和人类疾病中的作用不断扩展，因此有必要建立模型生物，以便在正常发育条件下研究端粒功能。我们提出了一种高效的系统，利用非洲爪蟾转基因技术来产生大量含有工程化端粒的脊椎动物。我们的结果表明，非洲爪蟾受精卵能有效识别染色体断裂点处的端粒重复序列并形成端粒复合体，从而产生新的端粒。尽管存在染色体断裂，所产生的转基因动物仍能正常发育并成功变态为幼蛙。总体而言，这为在脊椎动物系统中产生工程化端粒提供了一种高效机制，并为研究正常脊椎动物发育过程中端粒功能的表观遗传方面提供了机会。
