Post-integration stability of piggyBac in Aedes aegypti.
The post-integration activity of piggyBac transposable element gene vectors in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes was tested under a variety of conditions. The embryos from five independent transgenic lines of Ae. aegypti, each with a single integrated non-autonomous piggyBac transposable element gene vector, were injected with plasmids containing the piggyBac transposase open-reading frame under the regulatory control of the Drosophila melanogaster hsp70 promoter. No evidence for somatic remobilization was detected in the subsequent adults whereas somatic remobilization was readily detected when similar lines of transgenic D. melanogaster were injected with the same piggyBac transposase-expressing plasmid. Ae. aegypti heterozygotes of piggyBac reporter-containing transgenes and piggyBac transposase-expressing transgenes showed no evidence of somatic and germ-line remobilization based on phenotypic and molecular detection methods. The post-integration mobility properties of piggyBac in Ae. aegypti enhance the utility of this gene vector for certain applications, particularly those where any level of vector remobilization is unacceptable.
Sethuraman
Nagaraja
N
Center for Biosystems Research, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 9600 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Fraser
Malcolm J
MJ
Eggleston
Paul
P
O'Brochta
David A
DA
D000330:Aedes / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D005127:Eye Color / Q000235:genetics; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements