Construction of a universal recombinant expression vector that regulates the expression of human lysozyme in milk

Abstract

The mammary gland provides a novel method for producing recombinant proteins in milk of transgenic animals. A key component in the technology is the construction of an efficient milk expression vector. Here, we established a simple method to construct a milk expression vector, by a combination of homologous recombination and digestion-ligation. Our methodology is expected to have the advantages of both plasmid and bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) vectors. The BAC of mouse whey acidic protein gene (mWAP) was modified twice by homologous recombination to produce a universal expression vector, and the human lysozyme gene (hLZ) was then inserted into the vector by a digestion-ligation method. The final vector containing the 8.5 kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 4.8 kb hLZ genomic DNA, and 8.0 kb mWAP 3′ genomic DNA was microinjected into pronuclei of fertilized mouse embryos, to successfully generate two transgenic mouse lines that expressed recombinant human lysozyme (rhLZ) in milk. The highest expression level of rhLZ was 0.45 g·L⁻¹, and rhLZ exhibited the same antibacterial activity as native hLZ. Our results have provided a simple approach to construct a universal milk expression vector, and demonstrated that the resulting vector regulates the expression of hLZ in milk.

Keywords

BAC recombinant methods / gene expression / human lysozyme / transgenic mice / milk expression vector

Introduction

Transgenesis provides a novel platform to express foreign protein in mammary glands used as bioreactors, and the resulting mammary gland bioreactors have been considered better than other bioreactors, such as the blood, urine, seminal plasma, egg whites and silkworm cocoons^[1]. There are many advantages for the use of the mammary gland as a bioreactor. The mammary gland is a specialized organ for protein synthesis in which milk protein expression levels reach gram levels per liter of milk^[2]. In addition, milk can easily be collected in large quantities, resulting in low production costs. The purification of recombinant proteins from milk is also easy and the mammary gland tissue glycosylation patterns are usually similar to those of human native proteins^[3]. Thus far, many mammalian species (pig, goat, sheep, cow and rabbit) have been studied as bioreactors^[1], while the transgenic mouse model has been an irreplaceable tool for bioreactor studies^[4].

The construction of a milk expression vector is an essential step for protein generation in an animal system. In general, genomic DNA (gDNA) or complementary DNA (cDNA) from the foreign gene is designed to be driven by the 5′-flanking (promoter) and 3′-flanking regions of milk protein genes (such as α, β, g and k caseins, α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, and whey acidic protein)^[5]. Other regulatory elements, such as signal peptide and insulator sequences, can also be inserted into the vector to ensure high level and/or position-independent expression. The vector construction method most widely used involves using DNA ligases to repeatedly insert the gene of interest and the regulatory DNA fragment^[6], or to insert the gene of interest into commercial vectors such as pBC1^[7]. However, this method can only use short DNA fragments, usually<20 kb. Statistical analyses have suggested that the plasmid vector transgene often leads to low levels and unstable expression because of position effects and incomplete regulatory sequences^[8].

With the development of homologous recombination methods, artificial chromosome type vectors have become a relatively novel method for gene expression. These vectors have large cloning capacities that may include long distance regulatory elements used to achieve correct gene expression and to maximize position-independence, copy number-dependence and optimal levels of transgene expression. In comparison to yeast artificial chromosomes, bacterial-derived bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) and P1 artificial chromosome are more stable and suitable for genetic engineering and are often used to generate transgenic animals for gene expression^[9,10]. It has been difficult to regulate BAC foreign gene expression, however, before the development of homologous recombination methods. This method is used to direct cloning and subcloning, including ET recombination (recombination derived from the RecE and RecT proteins)^[11] and recombination-mediated genetic engineering (recombineering)^[12], and allows modifications of BACs or P1 artificial chromosomes with precise junctions without constraints being imposed by restriction enzyme site locations. It has been reported that such a modified BAC regulates the expression of foreign genes^[13] as large as itself^[9]. Presently, a problem involving BAC transgenesis is the length of the DNA sequence insert, making it difficult to operate and identify and makes the analyses of the locations and integration patterns of BACs difficult^[14].

In the present study, we combined the homologous recombination and digestion-ligation methods to take advantage of the plasmid and BAC vectors. The mouse whey acidic protein (mWAP) BAC was first subcloned into a plasmid with 8.5 kb 5′ and 8.0 kb 3′ flanking sequences of the mWAP gene, then the mWAP gene was deleted by directed cloning with two NotI-flanked sites for insertion of foreign genes, and a universal expression vector, pMWAP, was constructed. Finally, human lysozyme (hLZ) gDNA was inserted into the vector using the digestion-ligation method, and the final expression vector, pMWAP-hLZ, contained the 8.5kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 4.8kb hLZ gDNA, and the 8.0kb mWAP 3′ gDNA. Transgenic mice were generated by microinjection of the pMWAP-hLZ expression vector, and recombinant human lysozyme (rhLZ) was expressed in the milk. Our results have provided a simple approach to constructing a universal milk expression vector, and demonstrate that the resulting vector regulated the expression of hLZ in milk.

Materials and methods

Construction of the pMWAP-hLZ expression vector by BAC recombineering

The construction of the pMWAP-hLZ expression vector consisted of two recombineering steps and one step for enzyme digestion and ligation. Recombineering was performed as previously described^[13]. Step 1 involved subcloning the DNA fragments of the mWAP 5′ and 3′ flanking regions from the mWAP BAC (GenBank No. RP23-169J19). The mWAP BAC containing the entire mWAP gDNA and including the 173 kb 5′ flanking region and 50 kb 3′ flanking region was introduced into the SW102 Escherichia coli strain in advance, which contained the bacteriophage l recombination system on the chromosome for BAC recombineering. Then the PCR product amplified from pBR322 plasmid containing the origin of replication and ampicillin resistance marker (Amp) with a 60 bp homologous arm (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹) was electroporated into bacterial cells. Recombineering occurred, the bacterial cells were screened using ampicillin and verified by PCR. The final plasmid from DNA subcloning contained the 8.5 kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 8 kb mWAP 3′ gDNA, and the mWAP gDNA. In step 2, The mWAP genomic gene was replaced by a zeocin resistance gene flanked by the NotI restriction sites. The PCR product containing the zeocin resistance marker (Zeo) with a 50 bp homologous arm (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹) was electroporated into the bacterial cells for the second recombineering step, and the positive bacterial clones containing pMWAP-Zeo were screened by zeocin and identified by PCR. In step 3, the hLZ gene was ligated into the NotI sites of the pMWAP-Zeo vector in DH5α Escherichia coli strain, and pMWAP-hLZ construction was completed (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹). The 4.8 kb hLZ genomic sequence from ATG to TAA flanked by the NotI sites was amplified by PCR using ghLZ primers (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹) with the BAC clone RP11-1143G9 (Genome Systems Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA) as the template.

Step1, subcloning DNA fragments of mWAP 5′ and 3′ flanking regions from BAC by the linear PCR product. mWAP BAC that contains entire mWAP gDNA and includes 173 kb 5′ and 50 kb 3′ flanking regions, was introduced into Escherichia coli strain SW102 for BAC recombineering, PCR product containing the origin of replication and ampicillin resistance marker (Amp) with 60 bp homologous arm was electroporated into the bacterial cells, then recombineering occurred and bacterial cells screened by ampicillin. After PCR identification and DNA sequencing, the plasmid contains 8.5 kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 8.0 kb mWAP 3′ gDNA and mWAP gDNA.

Step2, mWAP genomic gene was replaced by zeocin resistance gene with two NotI-flanked. PCR product containing Zeo with 50 bp homologous arm was electroporated into the bacterial cells for the second recombineering, the positive bacterial cells screened by zeocin and identified by PCR.

Step3, hLZ gene was ligated by NotI sites and pMWAP-hLZ expression vector was constructed. The 4.8 kb hLZ genomic sequence from ATG to TAA flanking by two NotI sites was amplified by PCR, and replaced the zeocin gene after NotI digestion and DNA ligation. The final expresson vector contains 8.5 kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 4.8 kb hLZ gDNA and 8.0 kb mWAP 3′ gDNA.

Generation of transgenic mice

The pMWAP-hLZ expression vector was linearized with PvuI restriction enzyme, purified by agarose gel electrophoresis and diluted to 2–3 ng·μL⁻¹ in TE buffer for microinjection. Linearized DNA was microinjected into the pronuclei of fertilized eggs of the mouse breed Kunming White. The injection of transgenic DNA was conducted according to the procedure described by Hogan et al.^[15]. Genomic DNA was extracted from tails (1 cm long) of F₀ mice, and P1, P2, hLZ primers (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹) were used to screen for positive transgenic lines, which were confirmed by Southern blotting. In brief, 10 μg of gDNA from transgenic and wild-type (negative control) mice was digested with EcoRI. After resolving by 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis bands were transferred to nylon membrane (Roche Applied Science, Mannheim, Germany), the samples were hybridized with a digoxigenin-labeled probe amplified with the primer hLZ (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹; ⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹, 637 bp amplification products) to produce a 3.3kb positive hybridization signal. Transgene copy number was estimated by real-time PCR, the primers (hLZ-CP-F and hLZ-R, 140 bp) for hLZ assay were designed by using Primer Express software version 3.0. The mouse fatty acid binding protein gene (Fabpi110-F and Fabpi110-R, 110 bp) was used as control (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹). Real-time PCR was performed on the LightCycler® 480 II System (Roche) and all reactions were performed in triplicate.

Reverse transcription PCR

Total RNA was extracted from the mammary glands and other tissues during lactation using Trizol (Tiangen Biotech, Beijing, China). First strand cDNA was synthesized with oligo-dT (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) primers were designed on the basis of the hLZ coding sequences, and the upstream primer (Exon1-2-F) was designed across one intron (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹). The predicted 322 bp fragment was amplified. Mouse glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene was used as an RT-PCR internal control.

SDS-PAGE and Western blotting

Milk samples from transgenic mice were collected on postnatal days 9 and 16, diluted 10-fold with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and centrifuged (10000 × g, 20 min, 4°C) to remove the whey from the fat layer and insoluble precipitates. The cleared fraction lacking whey was mixed with SDS-PAGE sample buffer and subjected to 15% SDS-PAGE under both reducing and non-reducing conditions. Protein bands were visualized by staining with Coomassie brilliant blue R-250.

For Western blot analysis, proteins resolved by SDS-PAGE were electrophoretically transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane (GE Healthcare, Amersham, UK) that was then blocked overnight at 4°C with 3% bovine serum albumin in PBS containing 0.05% (w/v) Tween 20. Polyclonal rabbit anti-hLZ (1:1000) (US Biological Inc., Swampscott, MA, USA) and horseradish peroxidase–conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (1:5000) (Sino-American Co., Beijing, China) were used to detect rhLZ. Milk samples from wild-type mice served as negative controls. Blots were developed by enhanced chemiluminescence and autoradiography.

ELISA

The amount of rhLZ in the milk of transgenic mice was quantified using a Human Lysozyme EIA kit (Biomedical Technologies, Inc., MA). Each sample was analyzed at least three times, and the results represent mean±SD.

Lysozyme activity assays

Lysozyme activity was evaluated by two methods. For the lysoplate or gel diffusion assay, a suspension of Micrococcus luteus cells (China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center, Beijing, China) was prepared in nutrient broth medium containing agar. After solidification of the medium, 6-mm-diameter circles of quantitative filter paper were spotted with milk samples to be tested for lysozyme activity and placed on the agar plates. After 36 h incubation at 28°C, zones of transparency appeared around the filter paper circles due to lysis of M. luteus cells by lysozyme produced by the transgenic mice. The experiment was repeated three times.

For the turbidimetric assay, the enzymatic activity of lysozyme was determined as previously described^[13] by monitoring the reduction in turbidity of a suspension of M. luteus cells at 450 nm. First, 2.5 mL of M. luteus cell suspension (OD₄₅₀ 0.80 to 0.85) in 66 mmol·L⁻¹ potassium phosphate, pH 6.24, was placed in a 4-mL cuvette at room temperature. The reaction was initiated by adding 100 mL of 1:100 dilutions of mouse milk samples or 100 mL purified chicken egg lysozyme at concentrations of 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and 8000 U·μL⁻¹. Absorbance at 450 nm (A₄₅₀) was recorded every 15 s over a 3 min period. The activity of rhLZ was calculated from the standard curve. All samples were measured in triplicate.

Results

Construction of the pMWAP-hLZ expression vector

During step 1 of the pMWAP-hLZ construction, nine clones were selected from the LB plates containing ampicillin, for PCR analyses, with two being positive. The positive clones were whole genome sequenced, and the sequences were compared to the mWAP BAC sequence using BLAST. The plasmid, pMWAP, contained the 8.5kb mWAP 5′ promoter, 8.0kb mWAP 3′ gDNA and the mWAP gDNA. During step 2, nine clones were selected from the LB plates with zeocin, for PCR analyses, with six of them testing positive. The positive PCR products were further subjected to NotI digestion, because of the added two NotI sites, with the plasmid being named pMWAP-Zeo. During step 3, the 4.8kb hLZ genomic sequence from ATG to TAA, flanking the two NotI sites, was amplified by PCR with ghLZ primers (⁰⁰⁰²⁰¹) and using hLZ BAC as the template, and was ligated to the pMD19-T simple vector (Sangon Biotech Inc., Shanghai, China) for sequencing. Both hLZ gDNA and pMWAP-Zeo were digested with NotI and ligated with the NotI sites, and PCR was used to identify the correct direction of connection. The final expression vector, pMWAP-hLZ, contained the 8.5kb mWAP 5′ promoter, the 4.8kb hLZ gDNA and the 8.0kb mWAP 3′ gDNA (⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹a).

Generation of transgenic mice using the pMWAP-hLZ expression vector

Two female (lines 2 and 18) and four male (lines 10, 13, 25 and 26) transgenic mouse lines were obtained from 27 mice analyzed by PCR (⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹b), with an efficiency of 22.2%. The integration of transgenes and copy number was further confirmed by Southern blotting and real-time PCR. All six lines had low transgene copy numbers (ranging from 1 to 10; ⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹c). At sexual maturity, the transgenic lines were mated with wild-type mice, and the transgene transmission in the offspring are listed in ⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹.

Expression of the rhLZ in the milk of transgenic mice

To determine whether the transgene was transcribed and translated correctly in transgenic mice, RT-PCR and Western blotting was conducted. For RT-PCR, total RNA was isolated from lactating mammary gland and other tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach and intestine) of the F₁ generation. As expected, hLZ mRNA was detected in the mammary gland of transgenic mice during the middle of the lactation period, but not in other tissues and wild-type mammary glands (⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹d). For Western blotting milk samples from transgenic mice were collected (days 9–14) and diluted, natural hLZ standard was used as a positive control and milk from wild-type mice as a negative control. The mouse line 18 and F₁ offspring from line 25 (25-19 and 25-22) expressed rhLZ and showed a 14.7 kDa band with the same protein size as hLZ standard (⁰⁰⁰³⁰²). The concentration of rhLZ was further quantified using ELISA assay, the rhLZ expression level of line 18 and F₁ offspring was 0.45±0.05, 0.15±0.03 and 0.14±0.02 g·L⁻¹, respectively (⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹).

Milk samples were diluted 1:10 in phosphate-buffered saline, and 3 mL of each sample was separated by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions. PC, 0.5 μg natural hLZ standard (Sigma; 14.7 kDa); NC, milk of non-transgenic mice as a negative control; 2 and 18 are milk from female mouse lines; 25-19, 25-22 and 26-25 are milk from different female F₁ offspring of male mouse lines.

Assessment of rhLZ antibacterial activity

The lysoplate provided a convenient method to analyze the bactericidal activity and to estimate the expression levels of rhLZ in milk. Transparent zones (filled with 1 mL samples of milk) of mouse lines 18 and 25, and the hLZ standard were clearly visible after an incubation for 24 h, while there was no transparent zone with milk from mouse lines 2 and 26, and from non-transgenic mice (⁰⁰⁰³⁰³). Milk samples were then quantitatively examined using the turbidimetric method. The antibacterial activities of the transgenic mice were 940±50 and 230±30 U·μL⁻¹ (⁰⁰⁰³⁰¹), whereas that of the non-transgenic mice and hLZ standard were 20±12 and 1528±275 U·μL⁻¹, respectively.

Discussion

Construction and in vivo evaluation of an efficient milk expression vector is one of the key steps in the development of animal bioreactor systems. Usually, the 5′-flanking regions as promoters and the 3′-flanking regions of milk protein genes are cloned repeatedly and ligated together to drive foreign gene expression. The most well-known universal milk expression vector is pBC1 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA), designed to facilitate the expression of recombinant proteins in milk of transgenic animals. This vector contains two chicken β-globin insulator sequences, a 4.1kb goat β-casein promoter, and a 5.5kb β-casein 3′ gDNA. Many milk expression vectors have been based on the pBC1 vector and/or have used some of its regulatory elements^[16].

Previously a pBC-hLZ vector based on the pBC1 for hLZ milk expression was constructed^[7]. This vector had mid-level expression in mice, but low-level expression in pigs^[17] and cows (unpublished data). The reasons for this are still being explored, but it may be due to species differences. Later, the pBC-hLZ vector was improved and had a relatively higher expression levels at concentrations about 0.12 mg·L⁻¹ in pigs^[18]. A new strategy involving the pBAC-hLF-hLZ-Neo BAC vector has been studied for increasing the expression level, the vector was modified from the human lactoferrin (hLF) BAC by recombineering, and the original hLZ gDNA was replaced by hLZ gDNA, resulting in high expression in the milk of mice^[13], pigs^[19] and cow^[20]. The BAC vector solved the problem of low expression level among species, but there are several disadvantages that should be considered: (1) the length of vector is so long that it is difficult to be inserted into the genome of cells or zygotes easily, especially for knock in mediated by CRISPR/Cas9^[21]; (2) the analyses of the locations and integration patterns of BACs are difficult^[14]; (3) the expression level is too high so that the lactation period is shortened in transgenic pigs (unpublished data). Therefore, it is necessary to construct a universal vector which has middle DNA length and middle expression level.

The mWAP gene locus is a good candidate for regulating foreign protein at different expression levels. It is reported that 2.6 kb of upstream DNA could direct the expression of human tissue plasminogen activator cDNA to the mammary gland in mice^[22], and regulate mWAP gDNA in the mammary gland in pig at concentration about 1 g·L⁻¹ milk^[23]. Recently, it was reported that 13 kb of upstream DNA could direct expression of human lactoferrin at between 16.7 to 29.8 g·L^−1[24], human serum albumin at 11.9 g·L^−1[25] and human lysozyme ranging from 18.4 to 35.0g·L^−1[26]. So, the mWAP gene locus could meet the requirements of middle DNA length and middle expression level by adjusting the length of its regulatory sequence.

In the present study, we constructed a universal vector, pMWAP, containing the 8.5kb 5′ promoter and 8.0kb 3′ gDNA of the mWAP gene and provided two NotI sites for easy foreign gene insertion. To check the expression efficiency of the pMWAP vector, we chose the 4.8kb hLZ gene and obtained pMWAP-hLZ. Two of the six transgenic lines showed rhLZ expression, the highest expression was 0.45±0.05 g·L⁻¹, at a mid-level expression. The rhLZ had no ectopic expression and exhibited the same antibacterial activity as native hLZ. Compared to the BAC vector, the pMWAP vector has the advantages of being more convenient to use and allowing time saving in trangenic analyses.

Our final goal is to construct a universal vector with the expected expression level about 1 g·L⁻¹, but further work is needed to achieve this goal. The reasons that this was not achieved in the current study may be that the pBC-hLZ vector was not long enough to contain all essential regulatory elements^[8], or/and the foreign gene expression was affected by the chromosomal position^[27], or/and the transcription of hLZ was affected by the NotI sites near the ATG start codon and the TAA stop codon. Therefore, the length of mWAP gene locus needs to be readjusted and improved, and the method of gateway sites or Gibson assembly needs to be changed to avoid potential problems with NotI sites.

Conclusions

We have established a method to construct a universal milk expression vector, which regulated the expression of hLZ in milk.

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The Author(s) 2018. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)