The production of therapeutic protein from transgenic domestic animal is the major technology of biotechnology. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is known to play an important role in the growth of the animal. The objective of this study is construction of knock-in vector that bovine IGF-1 gene is inserted into the exon 7 locus of β-casein gene and expressed using the gene regulatory DNA sequence of bovine β-casein gene. The knock-in vector consists of 5’ arm region (1.02 kb), bIGF-1 cDNA, CMV-EGFP, and 3’ arm region (1.81 kb). To express bIGF-1 gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5’ terminal of bIGF-1 gene and inserted into exon 7 of the β-casein gene. As a result, the knock-in vector is confirmed that the amino acids are synthesized without termination from the β-casein exon 7 region to the bIGF-1 gene by DNA sequence. These knock-in vectors may help to create transgenic dairy cattle expressing bovine bIGF-1 protein in the mammary gland via the expression system of the bovine β-casein gene.

The knock-in efficiency in the fibroblast is very important to produce transgenic domestic animal using nuclear transfer. In this research, we constructed three kinds of different knock-in vectors to study the efficiency of knock-in depending on structure of knock-in vector with different size of homologous arm on the β-casein gene locus in the somatic cells; DT-A_cEndo Knock-in vector, DT-A_tEndo Knock-in vector I, and DT-A_tEndo Knock-in vector II. The knock-in vector consists of 4.8 kb or 1.06 kb of 5’ arm region and 1.8 kb or 0.64 kb of 3’ arm region, and neomycin resistance gene(neor) as a positive selection marker gene. The cEndo Knock-in vector had 4.8 kb and 1.8 kb homologous arm. The tEndo Knock-in vector I had 1.06 kb and 0.64 kb homologous arm and tEndo Knock-in vector II had 1.06 kb and 1.8 kb homologous arm. To express endostatin gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5’ terminal of endostatin gene and inserted into exon 7 of the β-casein gene. The knock-in vector and TALEN were introduced into the bovine fibroblast by electroporation. The knock-in efficiencies of cEndo, tEndo I, and tEndo II vector were 4.6%, 2.2% and 4.8%, respectively. These results indicated that size of 3’ arm in the knock-in vector is important for TALEN-mediated homologous recombination in the fibroblast. In conclusion, our knock-in system may help to create transgenic dairy cattle expressing human endostatin protein via the endogenous expression system of the bovine β-casein gene in the mammary gland.

Many transgenic domestic animals have been developed to produce therapeutic proteins in the mammary gland. However, purification of therapeutic proteins from transgenic milk are very important for productivity of recombinant protein. Development of a knock-in vector system is needed to improve production of therapeutic proteins. In this study, we are develop Knock-in vector to express human Erythropoietin protein (hEPO) using Gluthathione S-transferase (GST) fusion system on mouse β-casein exon 3 locus. The knock-in vector consisted of the 5 homologous arm (1.02 kb), GST, PreScission protease site, hEPO cDNA, BGH polyA signal, CMV-EGFP, and 3homologous arm(1.81 kb). The analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequence revealed that GST-hEPO mRNA is probably translated with the mouse β-casein sequence and the β-casein-GST-hEPO fusion protein is probably secreted by ER-Golgi pathway. After that, the hEPO protein can be cleaved to remove the GST from the fusion protein by PreScission protease during purification of recombinant protein. This knock-in vector may help to create transgenic mouse expressing human Erythropoietin protein via the endogenous expression system of the mouse β-casein gene in the mammary gland.

The production of therapeutic proteins from transgenic animals is one of the most important successes of animal biotechnology. Endostatin is 20 KDa C-terminal fragment derived from type XVIII collagen and an endogenous inhibitor of tumor growth by inhibition of angiogenesis. In this study, we are developed knock-in vector consists of 5’ arm region (1.02 kb), human Endostatin cDNA, CMV-EGFP, and 3’ arm region (1.83 kb). To express Endostatin gene as transgene, the F2A sequence was fused to the 5’ terminal of Endostatin gene and inserted into exon 3 of the β -casein gene. If this knock-in vector is inserted into the porcine β-casein gene locus by homologous recombination, human Endostatin mRNA are expressed using the gene regulatory region of the β-casein. Also, the β-casein and Endostatin fusion protein is translated and Endostatin protein is separated by F2A self cleavage during translation. In conclusion, our knock-in vector may help to create transgenic pig expressing human Endostatin protein via the endogenous expression system of the porcine β-casein gene in the mammary gland.

본 연구는 돼지 B-casein 유전자 위치에서 EGFP가 발현될 수 있는 knock-in 벡터를 구축하기 위하여 실시되었다. 돼지의 B-casein 유전자를 이용하여 knock-in 벡터를 구축하기 위해 돼지의 태아 섬유아세포로부터 B-casein 유전자를 동정하였고 EGFP, SV4O polyA signal을 동정하였다. Knock-in 벡터는 5' 상동 영역 약 5 kb와 3' 상동 영역 약 2.7 kb로 구성되어있으며, positive selection marker로 neor 유전자를, negative selection marker로 DT-A 유전자를 사용하였다. 구축된 knock-in 벡터로부터 EGFP의 발현을 확인하기 위하여 생쥐 유선 세포인 HC11 세포에 knock-in 벡터를 도입하였다. 그 결과 EGFP의 발현을 HC11 세포에서 확인하였다. 이와 같은 결과로서 이 block-in 벡터는 knock-in 형질전환 돼지를 생산하는데 사용될 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.