title: Hyperactive transposase mutants of the Sleeping Beauty transposon.
abstract: Transposable elements have enormous potential to overcome one of the major hurdles in nonviral gene delivery, namely the lack of long-term gene expression. The Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon is a promising vector system for nonviral gene therapy as it has the highest transposition activity of all known DNA transposons within mammalian cells. In an effort to generate a more efficient delivery vehicle, we conducted a systematic evaluation of several novel and previously identified SB transposase mutants. The results indicate that certain combinations of mutants do not enhance transposition, whereas others give a synergistic response. The most active mutant, designated HSB17, shows nearly 17-fold higher transposition activity compared to the original transposase SB10 when tested within the same expression cassette. In addition, synergistic activity is observed when this hyperactive mutant is combined with an improved transposon. Animal studies utilizing the hyperactive transposase show enhanced long-term reporter gene expression. These modifications further expand the utility of this transposon-based gene transfer system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, 1600 SW Archer Road, Box 100267, Gainesville, FL 32610-0267, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baus
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Arnold D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Heggestad
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.forename: Bradley S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Fletcher
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003062:Codon; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014162:Transfection; D019895:Transposases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019895:Transposases; C494471:sleeping beauty transposase, human