Application of Minos, one of the Tc1/mariner superfamily transposable elements, to ascidian embryos as a tool for insertional mutagenesis.
As it has a simple genome structure, Ciona intestinalis is a good chordate species for studying the function of genes. To this end, it is a key requirement to introduce insertional mutagenesis using a transposable element to the ascidian system. The present study focuses on Minos, one of the Tc1/mariner superfamily transposons that is already used in a human cell line. By extrachromosomal excision and transposition assays, we found that Minos activity is very high in C. intestinalis. We also demonstrated the nuclear localization activity of Minos transposase in Ciona embryos. From these tests, we concluded that Minos transposase has complete activity when it is expressed in C. intestinalis, suggesting that Minos has the potential to be used for genome-wide insertional mutagenesis of C. intestinalis.
Sasakura
Yasunori
Y
Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. sasakura@ascidian.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Awazu
Satoko
S
Chiba
Shota
S
Kano
Shungo
S
Satoh
Nori
N
D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008845:Microinjections; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000379:methods*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019895:Transposases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D019895:Transposases