Integration and germ-line transmission of a pseudotyped retroviral vector in zebrafish.
The zebrafish is rapidly becoming a popular model system for the study of vertebrate development because it is ideal for both embryological studies and genetic analysis. To determine if a retroviral vector pseudotyped with the envelope glycoprotein of the vesicular stomatitis virus could infect zebrafish embryos, and in particular, the cells destined to become the germ line, a pseudotyped virus was injected into blastula-stage zebrafish embryos. Fifty-one embryos were allowed to develop and eight transmitted proviral DNA to their progeny. Founders were mosaic, but as expected, transgenic F1's transmitted proviral DNA in a Mendelian fashion to the F2 progeny. Transgenic F1 fish inherited a single integrated provirus, and a single founder could transmit more than one viral integration to its progeny. These results demonstrate that this pantropic pseudotyped vector, originally developed for human gene therapy, will make the use of retroviral vectors in zebrafish possible.
Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
S
S
Lin
N
N
Gaiano
P
P
Culp
J C
JC
Burns
T
T
Friedmann
J K
JK
Yee
N
N
Hopkins
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000235:genetics*; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics*; D014721:Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus / Q000235:genetics*; D016662:Virus Integration / Q000235:genetics*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*
D004279:DNA, Viral