Transgenic BY-2 Cells Research Articles

Ca2+ -Calmodulin regulates nuclear translocation of the rice seed-specific MADS-box transcription factor OsMADS29.

OsMADS29 (M29) is a crucial regulator of seed development in rice. The expression of M29 is strictly regulated at transcriptional as well as post-transcriptional levels. The MADS-box proteins are known to bind to DNA as dimers. However, in the case of M29, the dimerization also plays a vital role in its localization into the nucleus. The factor(s) that affect oligomerization and nuclear transport of MADS proteins have not yet been characterized. By using BiFC in transgenic BY-2 cell lines and Yeast-2-hybrid assay (Y2H), we show that calmodulin (CaM) interacts with M29 in a Ca2+ -dependent manner. This interaction specifically takes place in the cytoplasm, probably in association with the endoplasmic reticulum. By generating domain-specific deletions, we show that both sites in M29 are involved in this interaction. Further, by using BiFC-FRET-FLIM, we demonstrate that CaM may also help in the dimerization of two M29 monomers. Since most MADS proteins have CaM binding domains, the interaction between these proteins could be a general regulatory mechanism for oligomerization and nuclear transport.

Production of Recombinant Glycoproteins in Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 Suspension Cells.

This protocol describes a robust method to obtain transgenic Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 cells that produce glycoproteins of interest via Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation. Compared to biolistics-based transformation, this procedure requires only standard laboratory equipment.

Ectopic Expression of Gs5PTase8, a Soybean Inositol Polyphosphate 5-Phosphatase, Enhances Salt Tolerance in Plants

Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases (5PTases) function in inositol signaling by regulating the catabolism of phosphoinositol derivatives. Previous reports showed that 5PTases play a critical role in plant development and stress responses. In this study, we identified a novel 5PTase gene, Gs5PTase8, from the salt-tolerance locus of chromosome 3 in wild soybean (Glycine soja). Gs5PTase8 is highly up-regulated under salt treatment. It is localized in the nucleus and plasma membrane with a strong signal in the apoplast. Ectopic expression of Gs5PTase8 significantly increased salt tolerance in transgenic BY-2 cells, soybean hairy roots and Arabidopsis, suggesting Gs5PTase8 could increase salt tolerance in plants. The overexpression of Gs5PTase8 significantly enhanced the activities of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase under salt stress. The seeds of Gs5PTase8-transgenic Arabidopsis germinated earlier than the wild type under abscisic acid treatment, indicating Gs5PTase8 would alter ABA sensitivity. Besides, transcriptional analyses showed that the stress-responsive genes, AtRD22, AtRD29A and AtRD29B, were induced with a higher level in the Gs5PTase8-transgenic Arabidopsis plants than in the wild type under salt stress. These results reveal that Gs5PTase8 play a positive role in salt tolerance and might be a candidate gene for improving soybean adaptation to salt stress.

Role of cerium oxide nanoparticle-induced autophagy as a safeguard to exogenous H2O2-mediated DNA damage in tobacco BY-2 cells.

The effect of cerium oxide nanoparticle (CeNP) in plants has elicited substantial controversy. While some investigators have reported that CeNP possesses antioxidant properties, others observed CeNP to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS). In spite of considerable research carried out on the effects of CeNP in metazoans, fundamental studies that can unveil its intracellular consequences linking ROS production, autophagy and DNA damage are lacking in plants. To elucidate the impact of CeNP within plant cells, tobacco BY-2 cells were treated with 10, 50 and 250 µg ml-1 CeNP (Ce10, Ce50 and Ce250), for 24 h. Results demonstrated concentration-dependent accumulation of Ca2+ and ROS at all CeNP treatment sets. However, significant DNA damage and alteration in antioxidant defence systems were noted prominently at Ce50 and Ce250. Moreover, Ce50 and Ce250 induced DNA damage, analysed by comet assay and DNA diffusion experiments, complied with the concomitant increase in ROS. Furthermore, to evaluate the antioxidant property of CeNP, treated cells were washed after 24 h (to minimise CeNP interference) and challenged with H2O2 for 3 h. Ce10 did not induce genotoxicity and H2O2 exposure to Ce10-treated cells showed lesser DNA breakage than cells treated with H2O2 only. Interestingly, Ce10 provided better protection over N-acetyl-L-cysteine against exogenous H2O2 in BY-2 cells. CeNP exposure to transgenic BY-2 cells expressing GFP-Atg8 fusion protein exhibited formation of autophagosomes at Ce10. Application of vacuolar protease inhibitor E-64c and fluorescent basic dye acridine orange, further demonstrated accumulation of particulate matters in the vacuole and occurrence of acidic compartments, the autophagolysosomes, respectively. BY-2 cells co-treated with CeNP and autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine exhibited increased DNA damage in Ce10 and cell death at all assessed treatment sets. Thus, current results substantiate an alternative autophagy-mediated, antioxidant and geno-protective role of CeNP, which will aid in deciphering novel phenomena of plant-nanoparticle interaction at cellular level.

Vector construction to enhance GP5 antigen expression of virus PRRS in plant cells

Plant vaccine is a new tool to enrich available vaccine resources for protection of human and animal health. Plant vaccine offers several advantages over current conventional vaccines, including that storage and transportationare convenient after lyophilization, production costs are low, and the contamination of mammalian pathogens is avoided. However, the low expression of foreign genes in plant still exists that limits the application of this kind of vaccine. Presently, plant virus-based expression vectors represent a technology that enables high levels of recombination proteins to be produced efficiently in plant cells. In this study, a modified TMV-based vector to elevate glycoprotein GP5 of PRRSV in plant cells without negative effects in the development of plant cells was developed. Gene encoded GP5 was replaced CP of TMV and the whole was regulated by the heat shock protein Hsp 18.2 promoter. Transgenic BY-2 cells carrying pHsp-TMV-GP5 showed the normal development compared to the ones harbouring pCB-35S-TMV-GP5. The results showed that the Hsp-TMV-GP5 construct do not have a negative effect on viability of transgenic plant cells. A further study will be carried out to investigate the expression of GP5 in stable transgenic plant cells to confirm the benefit of the modified expression vector in development of rapid and cost-effective antigens in plant cell suspension culture.

Vacuole Structure Analysis during Cell Death Subsequent to Application of Erwinia carotovora Culture Filtrates to Cell Cultures of Nicotiana tabacum

We recently established an experimental model system for efficient defense-related cell death using tobacco BY-2 cultured cells treated with culture filtrates of the pathogenic bacterium Erwinia carotovora (E. carotovora) (Hirakawa et al., 2015). Applying this experimental system to transgenic BY-2 cells stably expressing the vacuolar membrane marker GFP-VAM3 (Kutsuna and Hasezawa, 2002) allowed us to monitor changes in vacuolar membrane structures including a decrease of transvacuolar strands during cell death (Hirakawa et al., 2015). Our model system can help to investigate organelle dynamics in defense-related cell death. Here, we show protocol for applying E. carotovora filtrates to BY-2 cells and confocal observation of vacuolar membrane dynamics and subsequent cell death. We used cell cycle synchronized BY-2 cells to effectively monitor invaginated vacuolar membranes such as transvacuolar strands in our recent report (Hirakawa et al., 2015); however, we do not describe the protocol for cell cycle synchronization in this article. For the step-by-step protocol for BY-2 cell synchronization, please refer to previous protocol papers (Nagata and Kumagai, 1999; Kumagai-Sano et al., 2006).

GmSAL1 Hydrolyzes Inositol-1,4,5-Trisphosphate and Regulates Stomatal Closure in Detached Leaves and Ion Compartmentalization in Plant Cells

Inositol polyphosphatases are important regulators since they control the catabolism of phosphoinositol derivatives, which are often signaling molecules for cellular processes. Here we report on the characterization of one of their members in soybean, GmSAL1. In contrast to the substrate specificity of its Arabidopsis homologues (AtSAL1 and AtSAL2), GmSAL1 only hydrolyzes inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) but not inositol-1,3,4-trisphosphate or inositol-1,4-bisphosphate.The ectopic expression of GmSAL1 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana led to a reduction in IP3 signals, which was inferred from the reduction in the cytoplasmic signals of the in vivo biomarker pleckstrin homology domain–green florescent protein fusion protein and the suppression of abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure. At the cellular level, the ectopic expression of GmSAL1 in transgenic BY-2 cells enhanced vacuolar Na+ compartmentalization and therefore could partially alleviate salinity stress.

대장균과 식물시스템에서 재조합 인간 prominiinsulin 생합성 분석

최근 급속도로 당뇨병 환자가 증가하면서 인슐린 시장이 크게 성장하고 있다. 또한 최근 식물체를 이용하여 의약용 단백질 생산이 경제적인 측면과 안정성 측면에서 매우 효과적임이 보고되고 있어 이를 이용한 분자농업이 주목을 받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 인슐린 단백질을 식물체에서 생산하기 위한 유전자 발현 construct를 설계하기 위한 실험으로서 식물발현용 preprominiinsulin construct를 제조하기 위한 단계적 실험을 수행하였다. 우선 proinsulin이 무세포 식물 전사/번역시스템에서 성공적으로 발현됨을 확인하였다. Prominiinsulin construct를 제조하여 대장균에서 발현시키는데 성공하였으며, 이를 트립신으로 절단한 후 인간 항인슐린 항체를 이용한 western 분석을 통하여 효과적으로 A-펩타이드와 B-펩타이드가 형성되며 이후 적절하게 접힘이 일어나고 hexamer로 조립됨을 확인하였다. 이후 식물체에서 재조합 인슐린 유전자가 발현되는지를 확인하기 위하여 RFP 결합 construct를 제조하여 담배의 현탁배양세포인 BY-2 세포에 형질전환시켜 RFP 결합 preprominiinsulin이 성공적으로 발현됨을 확인 하였다. 이러한 성공적인 연구 결과를 토대로 향후 이 construct는 RFP 단백질을 제거하여 35S 프로모터에 직접 유도되는 [N 말단 <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> tobacco E2 시그널 펩타이드 <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> B-펩타이드(1-29 AA) <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> AAK <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> A-펩타이드(1-21 AA) <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> RR <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> His6 <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> KDEL <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> C 말단] construct를 제조하여 담배 식물체에 형질전환시켜 분자농업을 통해 인간 인슐린 단백질을 생산하는데 활용하고자 한다. Recently, the number of people with diabetes is rapidly increasing, coupled with the fact that the insulin market is remarkably increasing. Therefore, molecular farming for plant-derived pharmaceutical protein production is reported as becoming more attractive than ever. In this study, we carried out experiments step by step for development of recombinant insulin constructs, which were transformed into E. coli system, in vitro transcription and translation system, and tobacco cells. At first, recombinant proinsulin protein was successfully produced in in vitro transcription and translation system with wheat germ extract. After which, recombinant construct of prominiinsulin encoded a fusion protein of 7.8 kDa with trypsin cleavage sites at N terminus and C terminus of minimized C-peptide was tried to in vitro expression using E.coli culture. After purification with His-tag column, the resulting recombinant prominiinsulin protein was processed with trypsin, and then checked insulin biosynthesis by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis with anti-insulin monoclonal antibody. The immunoreactive product of trypsin-treated miniinsulin was identical to the predicted insulin hexamer. The construct of 35S promoter-driven preprominiinsulin recombinant gene with signal peptide region for ER-targeting and red fluorescence protein gene [N terminus <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> tobacco E2 signal peptide <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> B-peptide (1-29 AA) <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> AAK <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> A-peptide (1-21 AA) <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> RR <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> His6 <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> KDEL <TEX>${\rightarrow}$</TEX> C terminus] was transformed into BY-2 tobacco cells. A polypeptide corresponding to the 38-kDa molecular mass predicted for fusion protein was detected in total protein profiles from transgenic BY-2 cells by western analysis. Therefore, this recombinant preprominiinsulin construct can be used for generation of transgenic tobacco plants producing therapeutic recombinant insulin.

Genetic engineering of yellow betalain pigments beyond the species barrier

Betalains are one of the major plant pigment groups found in some higher plants and higher fungi. They are not produced naturally in any plant species outside of the order Caryophyllales, nor are they produced by anthocyanin-accumulating Caryophyllales. Here, we attempted to reconstruct the betalain biosynthetic pathway as a self-contained system in an anthocyanin-producing plant species. The combined expressions of a tyrosinase gene from shiitake mushroom and a DOPA 4,5-dioxygenase gene from the four-o'clock plant resulted in successful betalain production in cultured cells of tobacco BY2 and Arabidopsis T87. Transgenic tobacco BY2 cells were bright yellow because of the accumulation of betaxanthins. LC-TOF-MS analyses showed that proline-betaxanthin (Pro-Bx) accumulated as the major betaxanthin in these transgenic BY2 cells. Transgenic Arabidopsis T87 cells also produced betaxanthins, but produced lower levels than transgenic BY2 cells. These results illustrate the success of a novel genetic engineering strategy for betalain biosynthesis.

Hyaluronan synthesis in cultured tobacco cells (BY‐2) expressing a chlorovirus enzyme: Cytological studies

Extraction of hyaluronan from animals or microbial fermentation has risks including contamination with pathogens and microbial toxins. In this work, tobacco cultured-cells (BY-2) were successfully transformed with a chloroviral hyaluronan synthase (cvHAS) gene to produce hyaluronan. Cytological studies revealed accumulation of HA on the cells, and also in subcellular fractions (protoplasts, miniplasts, vacuoplasts, and vacuoles). Transgenic BY-2 cells harboring a vSPO-cvHAS construct containing the vacuolar targeting signal of sporamin connected to the N-terminus of cvHAS accumulated significant amounts of HA in vacuoles. These results suggested that cvHAS successfully functions on the vacuolar membrane and synthesizes/transports HA into vacuoles. Efficient synthesis of HA using this system provides a new method for practical production of HA.

Dehydration-induced WRKY genes from tobacco and soybean respond to jasmonic acid treatments in BY-2 cell culture

Drought is one of the important environmental factors affecting crop production worldwide and therefore understanding the molecular response of plant to stress is an important step in crop improvement. WRKY transcription factors are one of the 10 largest transcription factor families across the green lineage. In this study, highly upregulated dehydration-induced WRKY and enzyme-coding genes from tobacco and soybean were selected from microarray data for promoter analyses. Putative stress-related cis-regulatory elements such as TGACG motif, ABRE-like elements; W and G-like sequences were identified by an in silico analyses of promoter region of the selected genes. GFP quantification of transgenic BY-2 cell culture showed these promoters direct higher expression in-response to 100μM JA treatment compared to 100μM ABA, 10% PEG and 85mM NaCl treatments. Thus promoter activity upon JA treatment and enrichment of MeJA-responsive elements in the promoter of the selected genes provides insights for these genes to be jasmonic acid responsive with potential of mediating cross-talk during dehydration responses.

In vivo imaging and quantitative monitoring of autophagic flux in tobacco BY-2 cells

Autophagy has been shown to play essential roles in the growth, development and survival of eukaryotic cells. However, simple methods for quantification and visualization of autophagic flux remain to be developed in living plant cells. Here, we analyzed the autophagic flux in transgenic tobacco BY-2 cell lines expressing fluorescence-tagged NtATG8a as a marker for autophagosome formation. Under sucrose-starved conditions, the number of punctate signals of YFP-NtATG8a increased, and the fluorescence intensity of the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm decreased. Conversely, these changes were not observed in BY-2 cells expressing a C-terminal glycine deletion mutant of the NtATG8a protein (NtATG8aΔG). To monitor the autophagic flux more easily, we generated a transgenic BY-2 cell line expressing NtATG8a fused to a pH-sensitive fluorescent tag, a tandem fusion of the acid-insensitive RFP and the acid-sensitive YFP. In sucrose-rich conditions, both fluorescent signals were detected in the cytoplasm and only weakly in the vacuole. In contrast, under sucrose-starved conditions, the fluorescence intensity of the cytoplasm decreased, and the RFP signal clearly increased in the vacuole, corresponding to the fusion of the autophagosome to the vacuole and translocation of ATG8 from the cytoplasm to the vacuole. Moreover, we introduce a novel simple easy way to monitor the autophagic flux non-invasively by only measuring the ratio of fluorescence of RFP and YFP in the cell suspension using a fluorescent image analyzer without microscopy. The present in vivo quantitative monitoring system for the autophagic flux offers a powerful tool for determining the physiological functions and molecular mechanisms of plant autophagy induced by environmental stimuli.

Overexpression of OsDPR, a novel rice gene highly expressed under iron deficiency, suppresses plant growth

Preliminary microarray analysis of cDNA from rice roots revealed an up-regulated transcript that was highly expressed in a five-day iron deficiency treatment. The entire sequence of this gene was determined by bioinformatics analysis. There were no proteins with significant levels of similarity detected in public databases. This novel gene with unknown biological function was designated as OsDPR (dwarf phenotype-related gene). We constructed a stable plant expression vector pCAMBIA1302-OsDPR::GFP and produced transgenic tobacco plants. The phenotypes suggested that OsDPR restrained the growth of transformed plants. To understand the mechanisms of this suppression effect, cell size and number were compared between transformants and wild-type plants. The cell proliferation rate was lower in OsDPR transgenic BY-2 cells than in wild-type cells, but OsDPR expression did not affect cell size. Moreover, the cell division-related gene CyclinD2.1, which is involved in plant growth, was down-regulated in transgenic tobacco plants. These findings suggested that the novel iron-regulated gene OsDPR is responsible for the nanism phenotype of transgenic seedlings because of the inhibition of plant cell proliferation.

Ectopic Expression of a Bacterium NhaD‐type Na+/H+ Antiporter Leads to Increased Tolerance to Combined Salt/Alkali Stresses

AaNhaD, a gene isolated from the soda lake alkaliphile Alkalimonas amylolytica, encodes a Na(+) /H(+) antiporter crucial for the bacterium's resistance to salt/alkali stresses. However, it remains unknown whether this type of bacterial gene may be able to increase the tolerance of flowering plants to salt/alkali stresses. To investigate the use of extremophile genetic resources in higher plants, transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells and plants harboring AaNhaD were generated and their stress tolerance was evaluated. Ectopic expression of AaNhaD enhanced the salt tolerance of the transgenic BY-2 cells in a pH-dependent manner. Compared to wild-type controls, the transgenic cells exhibited increased Na(+) concentrations and pH levels in the vacuoles. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that AaNhaD-GFP fusion proteins were primarily localized in the tonoplasts. Similar to the transgenic BY-2 cells, AaNhaD-overexpressing tobacco plants displayed enhanced stress tolerance when grown in saline-alkali soil. These results indicate that AaNhaD functions as a pH-dependent tonoplast Na(+) /H(+) antiporter in plant cells, thus presenting a new avenue for the genetic improvement of salinity/alkalinity tolerance.

Arabidopsis Family GT43 Members are Xylan Xylosyltransferases Required for the Elongation of the Xylan Backbone

Xylan is the second most abundant polysaccharide in plant biomass targeted for biofuel production. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the biochemical mechanism underlying xylan biosynthesis. Although previous genetic studies have identified several genes implicated in xylan biosynthesis, biochemical proof of any of their encoded proteins as a xylan xylosyltransferase (XylT) responsible for xylan backbone biosynthesis is still lacking. In this study, we investigated the enzymatic activities of two Arabidopsis thaliana GT43 members, IRX9 (Irregular Xylem9) and IRX14, which have been genetically shown to be non-redundantly involved in the elongation of the xylan backbone. IRX9 and IRX14, alone or simultaneously, were heterologously expressed in tobacco BY2 cells, and microsomes isolated from the transgenic BY2 cells were tested for XylT activity using xylotetraose (Xyl(4)) as an acceptor and UDP-[(14)C]xylose as a donor. It was found that although microsomes with expression of IRX9 or IRX14 alone exhibited little incorporation of radiolabeled xylose, a high level of incorporation of radiolabeled xylose onto Xyl(4) was conferred by microsomes with co-expression of IRX9 and IRX14. Further analysis using fluorescent anthranilic acid-labeled xylotetraose (Xyl(4)-AA) as an acceptor revealed that up to five β-(1,4)-linked xylosyl residues were able to be transferred onto Xyl(4)-AA by microsomes with co-expression of IRX9 and IRX14. Furthermore, it was shown that xylooligomers ranging from Xyl(3)-AA to Xyl(6)-AA could all be used as acceptors for the xylosyl transfer by microsomes with co-expression of IRX9 and IRX14. Together, these findings provide the first biochemical evidence that IRX9 and IRX14 are xylosyltransferases that operate cooperatively in the elongation of the xylan backbone.

Stable Production of Thermotolerant Xylanase B ofClostridium stercorariumin Transgenic Tobacco and Rice

The xylanase B gene encoding a thermostable family 10 xylanase of Clostridium stercorarium was expressed in plants under the control of a constitutive promoter. Two forms of the xylanase B gene, the xynB gene encoding the full length of the xylanase B gene including the bacterial signal sequence and the xynBM gene without the signal sequence region, were introduced into tobacco BY-2 cells and tobacco plants respectively under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Transgenic BY-2 cells and tobacco plants showed xylanase activity and normal growth. The recombinant enzyme produced in transgenic BY-2 cells harboring the xynB gene was secreted into the culture supernatant, and the recombinant enzyme produced in transgenic BY-2 cells harboring the xynBM gene was localized in the cells. In contrast to tobacco plants, expression of the xynB gene under the control of the rice actin promoter in rice plants was toxic to host cells. However, the recombinant XynBM accumulated in leaf cells, and no phenotypic effect of expression of the xynBM gene was observed. Enzyme activity was maintained in cell-free extracts of transgenic rice leaves at 60 degrees C for 72 h, and the recombinant XynBM degraded hemicellulosic polymers in cell-free extracts of transgenic rice leaves.

Functional Analysis of an Arabidopsis thaliana Abiotic Stress-inducible Facilitated Diffusion Transporter for Monosaccharides

Sugars play indispensable roles in biological reactions and are distributed into various tissues or organelles via transporters in plants. Under abiotic stress conditions, plants accumulate sugars as a means to increase stress tolerance. Here, we report an abiotic stress-inducible transporter for monosaccharides from Arabidopsis thaliana that is termed ESL1 (ERD six-like 1). Expression of ESL1 was induced under drought and high salinity conditions and with exogenous application of abscisic acid. Promoter analyses using beta-glucuronidase and green fluorescent protein reporters revealed that ESL1 is mainly expressed in pericycle and xylem parenchyma cells. The fluorescence of ESL1-green fluorescent protein-fused protein was detected at tonoplast in transgenic Arabidopsis plants and tobacco BY-2 cells. Furthermore, alanine-scanning mutagenesis revealed that an N-terminal LXXXLL motif in ESL1 was essential for its localization at the tonoplast. Transgenic BY-2 cells expressing mutated ESL1, which was localized at the plasma membrane, showed an uptake ability for monosaccharides. Moreover, the value of K(m) for glucose uptake activity of mutated ESL1 in the transgenic BY-2 cells was extraordinarily high, and the transport activity was independent from a proton gradient. These results indicate that ESL1 is a low affinity facilitated diffusion transporter. Finally, we detected that vacuolar invertase activity was increased under abiotic stress conditions, and the expression patterns of vacuolar invertase genes were similar to that of ESL1. Under abiotic stress conditions, ESL1 might function coordinately with the vacuolar invertase to regulate osmotic pressure by affecting the accumulation of sugar in plant cells.

Production and characterization of soluble human lysosomal enzyme α-iduronidase with high activity from culture media of transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells

Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), that collectively represent over 50 disorders, are amenable to enzyme replacement therapies. However, the current methods used to commercially produce recombinant lysosomal enzymes for this purpose, most commonly Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and human fibroblasts, are prohibitively costly. Plant bioreactors hold great promise for economic production of functional human α- l-iduronidase (hIDUA; glycosaminoglycan α- l-iduronohydrolase; EC 3.2.1.76), the enzyme deficient in the human LSD, Mucopolysaccharidosis I. We have developed and tested an expression system using transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells to produce high amounts of active hIDUA. A plant signal peptide was essential for proper expression and secretion of the 78 kDa glycosylated hIDUA into the cultured media of transgenic BY-2 cells. The yield and activity of the secreted hIDUA from long-term cultures of transgenic BY-2 cell lines were as high as 10 μg/mL media and 53,000 pmol/min/mg proteins, respectively. Thus, this transgenic BY-2 cell line presents an attractive platform for economic production and easy downstream purification of hIDUA for enzyme replacement therapy. Furthermore, this system can be used for the production and purification of other human lysosomal enzymes or pharmaceuticals.

An isoform of myosin XI is responsible for the translocation of endoplasmic reticulum in tobacco cultured BY-2 cells

The involvement of myosin XI in generating the motive force for cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells is becoming evident. For a comprehensive understanding of the physiological roles of myosin XI isoforms, it is necessary to elucidate the properties and functions of each isoform individually. In tobacco cultured BY-2 cells, two types of myosins, one composed of 175 kDa heavy chain (175 kDa myosin) and the other of 170 kDa heavy chain (170 kDa myosin), have been identified biochemically and immunocytochemically. From sequence analyses of cDNA clones encoding heavy chains of 175 kDa and 170 kDa myosin, both myosins have been classified as myosin XI. Immunocytochemical studies using a polyclonal antibody against purified 175 kDa myosin heavy chain showed that the 175 kDa myosin is distributed throughout the cytoplasm as fine dots in interphase BY-2 cells. During mitosis, some parts of 175 kDa myosin were found to accumulate in the pre-prophase band (PPB), spindle, the equatorial plane of a phragmoplast and on the circumference of daughter nuclei. In transgenic BY-2 cells, in which an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-specific retention signal, HDEL, tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP) was stably expressed, ER showed a similar behaviour to that of 175 kDa myosin. Furthermore, this myosin was co-fractionated with GFP–ER by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. From these findings, it was suggested that the 175 kDa myosin is a molecular motor responsible for translocating ER in BY-2 cells.

Insertion in the coding region of the movement protein improves stability of the plasmid encoding a tomato mosaic virus-based expression vector

A major obstacle in the genetic manipulation of tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) is the instability of the plasmid containing the infectious full-length cDNA of the ToMV vector, which often prevents the subcloning of a foreign gene of interest into the vector. We found that an insertion of a 0.3-1.6-kbp DNA fragment in the movement protein (MP) coding region effectively attenuated bacterial toxicity of the plasmid and greatly increased plasmid yield. Accumulation of a modified ToMV containing a 0.3-kb insertion in the MP coding region was comparable to that of a modified ToMV without an insertion in tobacco BY-2 protoplasts, while an insertion more than 0.6 kb significantly reduced accumulation of the viral RNA. The modified ToMV vector containing a 0.3-kb insertion was easily manipulated to introduce a coding sequence for human interferon-gamma (HuIFN-gamma) and successfully utilized to produce HuIFN-gamma in both BY-2 protoplasts and transgenic BY-2 cells.