title: Efficient intracellular delivery of GFP by homeodomains of Drosophila Fushi-tarazu and Engrailed proteins.
abstract: The 60 amino acid long homeodomain of Antennapedia (Antp), either alone or as a fusion protein with 30-40 amino acid long foreign polypeptides, has been reported to cross biological membranes by an energy- and receptor-protein-independent mechanism. Moreover, the 16 amino acid long third helix of the Antp homeodomain, so-called penetratin, possesses translocation properties when fused to fewer than 100 amino acids as well. These findings led us to study whether such a protein tansduction property is shared by other homeodomains. We report here that homeodomains of two homeoproteins, Fushi-tarazu and Engrailed, are able to transduce a 238 amino acid long green fluorescent protein into cultured cells as efficiently as other well-known protein transduction domains, such as an internal oligopeptide of Tat and penetratin. These findings suggest that such transduction activity of homeodomains might have some physiological roles and that it can be exploited for development of efficient transduction vectors for research use and protein therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetic Engineering, Hallym University, Chunchon, Korea.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D051717:Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014161:Transduction, Genetic / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C063459:En protein, Drosophila; D051717:Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C497169:ftz protein, Drosophila; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C414409:penetratin