Patent Application
20240200083
The present invention relates to plasmids, and in particular, to a precursor plasmid for preparing a marker-free plasmid. The present invention also relates to a method for preparing the marker-free plasmid and a kit for preparing the marker-free plasmid.
In recent years, gene and cell therapy technology has gradually become a new important method for treatment of human diseases. Safe and efficient DNA delivery vectors enable the gene and cell therapy to play a greater role in the prevention and treatment of human diseases in the future. In the past two decades, non-viral delivery systems based on plasmid vectors and virus packaging/delivery systems based on plasmids have received extensive attention in gene defect repair, disease treatment and prevention, etc. The improvement of the safety, stability, and yield of plasmids and the reduction of cytotoxicity have always been the key research direction of plasmids in the field of gene and cell therapy.
Plasmid DNA molecules used in gene therapy usually have a modular structure, including a eukaryotic transcription unit and a prokaryotic replication unit. In addition to the sequences required for DNA replication, conventional plasmids usually carry at least one antibiotic resistant gene to ensure that the positive clone is facilitated in screening and stable heredity during cloning. Commonly used selectable markers include ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, neomycin, tetracycline, etc. [1]. However, when applied to gene therapy, plasmid DNA may be absorbed by bacteria that exist on the surface of the respiratory or digestive tract, and the antibiotic resistant gene carried on the plasmid may cause side effects such as antibiotic resistance in patients. Therefore, the disadvantageous side effects of traditional plasmid prompt the development of plasmids without antibiotic resistance genes.
At present, the widely used plasmids without antibiotic resistance genes mainly include the following: 1) Minicircles (circular DNA molecules). The minicircle is derived from the conventional plasmid containing recombination sites by self-recombination in E. coli to form a circular DNA molecule containing only a target gene sequence and a small plasmid containing an antibiotic resistance gene with the replication capability. The minicircle has the shortest plasmid backbone sequence, but has a cumbersome production process and low yield and purity due to the lack of replication capability and the limitation of recombination efficiency and purification means, making it difficult to produce on a large scale [2]. 2) Plasmids based on RNA-OUT selection technology. Such plasmids inhibit the expression of the negative selectable gene SacB of the host strain by coding a stretch of RNA-OUT antisense strand, so that the transformed positive clones can grow on a sucrose-containing culture medium for screening [3]. This screening system is easy to scale up for production. The plasmid backbone contains a DNA replication element and an RNA-OUT element, and is more complex in the sequence (450-500 bp) than the minicircle.
According to an aspect, the present invention provides a precursor plasmid, including:
In some embodiments, the sequences of the paired recombination sites are in the same direction.
In some embodiments, the replication original site is adjacent to the target gene or the cloning site, the paired recombination sites are respectively adjacent to the upstream and downstream of the replication original site and the target gene, or the paired recombination sites are respectively adjacent to the upstream and downstream of the replication original site and the cloning site. In some preferred embodiments, the replication original site is adjacent to the target gene or the cloning site, the paired recombination sites are respectively located at both ends of the “replication original site—target gene”, or the paired recombination sites are respectively located at both ends of the “replication original site—cloning site”. In some other preferred embodiments, the replication original site is located at one end of the target gene or the cloning site, the paired recombination sites are respectively located at both ends of the “replication original site—target gene”, or the paired recombination sites are respectively located at both ends of the “replication original site—the cloning site”.
In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the loxP sequence in the same direction, the FRT sequence in the same direction, or the attB/attP sequence in the same direction.
In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the lox71 sequence and the lox66 sequence in the same direction. In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the attB sequence and the attP sequence in the same direction.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid may include one or more paired recombination sites. In an embodiment, the precursor plasmid includes one paired recombination sites. In another embodiment, the precursor plasmid includes at least two paired recombination sites.
In some embodiments, the replication original site may be derived from a replication original site of bacteria or bacteriophage. In some specific embodiments, the replication original site is a replication original site of bacteria. In some preferred embodiments, the replication original site is selected from a replication original site for the pUC, a replication original site for the pMB1 and derivatives thereof, a replication original site for the ColE1, and a replication original site for the R6Kγ. In some embodiments, the replication original site includes the following sequences: nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and nucleotide sequences that have at least 800%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with the nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and can function as the replication origin. In some other embodiments, the replication original site includes a nucleotide sequence that has at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 43, 44, 45, or 46 and can function as the replication origin. In some embodiments, the replication original site includes a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 43, 44, 45, or 46. In a specific embodiment, the nucleotide sequence of the replication original site is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 43, 44, 45, or 46.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid further includes the following sequences: the repressor of primer (rop) gene sequence, the coding sequence of endonuclease, and the coding sequence of plasmid replication accessory protein. The endonuclease may be I-SceI. The plasmid replication accessory protein may be n protein. In some other embodiments, the circular double-stranded DNA includes one or more of the following sequences: a rop gene sequence, a coding sequence of endonuclease, and a coding sequence of plasmid replication accessory protein.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes other plasmid backbone sequences. In some other embodiments, the circular double-stranded DNA includes the other plasmid backbone sequences.
In some embodiments, the selectable marker gene is an antibiotic resistant gene. In some other embodiments, the selectable marker gene is selected from the genes resistant to ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, neomycin, or tetracycline.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid further includes the coding gene of recombinase. In some other embodiments, the circular double-stranded DNA may include the coding gene of the recombinase. In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid can express the recombinase under suitable conditions. The suitable conditions may be any conditions that enable the precursor plasmid to express the recombinase, for example, may include suitable host cells, growth conditions, induction conditions, and the like. In addition to the coding gene of the recombinase, the precursor plasmid may also contain elements necessary for expressing the recombinase, such as a promoter, an enhancer, and a terminator.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes a nucleotide sequence that has at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 39-42, or 47. In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 39-42, or 47. In an embodiment, the nucleotide sequence of the precursor plasmid is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 3942, or 47.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides use of the foregoing precursor plasmid in preparing a daughter plasmid without selectable marker gene.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for preparing a daughter plasmid without selectable marker gene, including: 1) introducing the foregoing precursor plasmid into a host cell that can express or can help express the recombinase, and screening out host cells that express the selectable marker gene; 2) culturing the host cells screened out in step 1) to allow the recombinase to be expressed in the host cells, and culturing the host cells and screening out host cells that do not express the selectable marker gene; and 3) culturing the host cells screened out in step 2) and extracting plasmids to obtain the daughter plasmid.
In some embodiments, the preparation method further includes the step of obtaining or preparing the foregoing precursor plasmid before step 1).
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes a replication original site, a selectable marker gene, a target gene, and paired recombination sites. The paired recombination sites enable the precursor plasmid to perform self-recombination in the presence of recombinase to form a molecule of the daughter plasmid and a molecule of circular double-stranded DNA. The daughter plasmid includes the replication original site and the target gene. The circular double-stranded DNA includes the selectable marker gene. In some embodiments, the daughter plasmid does not include an antibiotic resistant gene.
In some embodiments, the sequences of the paired recombination sites are in the same direction.
In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the loxP sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Cre recombinase; the paired recombination sites are the FRT sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Flp recombinase; or the paired recombination sites are the attB/attP sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the PhiC31 recombinase.
In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the lox71 sequence and the lox66 sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Cre recombinase. In some other embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the FRT sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Flp recombinase. In some embodiments, the paired recombination sites are the attB/attP sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the PhiC31 recombinase.
In some embodiments, the replication original site is derived from a replication original site of bacteria or bacteriophage. In some specific embodiments, the replication original site is selected from a replication original site for the pUC, a replication original site for the pMB1 and derivatives thereof, a replication original site for the ColE1, and a replication original site for the R6Kγ. In some other embodiments, the replication original site includes the following sequences: nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and nucleotide sequences that have at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with the nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and can function as the replication origin.
In some embodiments, the selectable marker gene is an antibiotic resistant gene. In some other embodiments, the selectable marker gene is selected from genes resistant to ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, neomycin, or tetracycline.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes the coding gene of the recombinase, and the precursor plasmid can express the recombinase in the host cell.
In some embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes a nucleotide sequence that has at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 39-42, or 47. In some other embodiments, the precursor plasmid includes a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 39-42, or 47. In an embodiment, the nucleotide sequence of the precursor plasmid is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 8, 34, 39-42, or 47.
In some embodiments, the host cell includes the coding gene of the recombinase in the genome thereof, or the host cell includes an expression vector containing the coding gene of the recombinase.
In some embodiments, the recombinase is inducibly expressed in the host cell. In some other specific embodiments, the host cell includes an inducible promoter, and the inducible promoter enables the recombinase to be inducibly expressed in the presence of an inducer. For example, the inducible promoter may be a lactose promoter (lactose operon), an arabinose promoter (arabinose operon), a temperature-induced promoter, a metal ion-induced promoter, and the like. In some other embodiments, the recombinase gene is integrated into the host cell genome through the plasmid containing the inducible promoter and the recombinase coding gene. The integration method includes, but is not limited to, the CRISPR/Cas9 method.
In some embodiments, the expression vector includes a conditionally induced loss-type plasmid replication element. In some specific embodiments, the expression vector includes a conditionally induced loss-type replicon, such as a temperature-sensitive replicon and a metal ion replicon. Under the induction condition, the expression vector loses the replication function and is gradually lost in the host cell.
In some embodiments, the host cell is E. coli. For example, the host cell may be E. coli JM108, TOP10, DH5α, GT115, pir1, pir2, etc., and other modified strains derived from related strains.
All the definitions and technical features of the foregoing precursor plasmid are suitable for the precursor plasmid in the method for preparing a daughter plasmid, which are all introduced herein. Details are not described again.
Further, the present invention includes a daughter plasmid obtained by the foregoing preparation method.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a kit for preparing a daughter plasmid without selectable marker gene, including the foregoing precursor plasmid.
In some embodiments, the kit further includes a host cell that can express or can help express the recombinase. The host cell may be E coli. For example, the host cell may be E. coli JM108, TOP10, DH5α, GT115, pir1, pir2, etc., and other modified strains derived from related strains.
In some embodiments, in the precursor plasmid, the paired recombination sites are the loxP sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Cre recombinase; the paired recombination sites are the FRT sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Flp recombinase; or the paired recombination sites are the attB/attP sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the phiC31 recombinase. In an embodiment, the paired recombination sites are the lox71 sequence and the lox66 sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Cre recombinase. In another embodiment, the paired recombination sites are the FRT sequence in the same direction, and the recombinase is the Flp recombinase.
In some embodiments, the host cell includes the coding gene of the recombinase in the genome thereof, or the host cell includes an expression vector containing the coding gene of the recombinase.
In some embodiments, the recombinase is inducibly expressed in the host cell. In some other specific embodiments, the host cell includes an inducible promoter, and the inducible promoter enables the recombinase to be inducibly expressed in the presence of an inducer. For example, the inducible promoter may be a lactose promoter (lactose operon), an arabinose promoter (arabinose operon), a temperature-induced promoter, a metal ion-induced promoter, and the like. The recombinase gene is integrated into the host cell genome through the plasmid containing the inducible promoter and the recombinase coding gene. The integration method includes, but is not limited to, the CRISPR/Cas9 method.
In some embodiments, the expression vector includes a conditionally induced loss-type plasmid replication element. In some specific embodiments, the expression vector includes a conditionally induced loss-type replicon, such as a temperature-sensitive replicon and a metal ion replicon.
In some embodiments, a target gene is inserted into the cloning site, so that the daughter plasmid formed after recombination contains the target gene.
All the definitions and technical features of the foregoing precursor plasmid are suitable for the precursor plasmid in the foregoing kit, which are all introduced herein. Details are not described again.
According to still another aspect, the present invention provides a daughter plasmid, including a replication original site and a target gene, where the daughter plasmid does not include an antibiotic resistant gene. In some embodiments, the daughter plasmid does not include a selectable marker gene. In some embodiments, the daughter plasmid is basically composed of a replication original site and a target gene.
In some embodiments, the replication original site is derived from a replication original site of bacteria or bacteriophage. In some other embodiments, the replication original site is selected from a replication original site for the pUC, a replication original site for the pMB1 and derivatives thereof, a replication original site for the ColE1, and a replication original site for the R6Kγ. In some other embodiments, the replication original site includes the following sequences: nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and nucleotide sequences that have at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity with the nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 43-46 and can function as the replication origin.
In some embodiments, the target gene includes the following sequences: a promoter, a coding gene of an expressed protein, and a terminator. In some other embodiments, the target gene includes the coding gene of the expressed protein, and may further include a promoter, a terminator, an enhancer, and the like.
In some embodiments, the daughter plasmid can replicate in the host cell. The host cell may be E. coli. For example, the host cell may be E. coli JM108, TOP10, DH5α, GT115, pir1, pir2, etc., and other modified strains derived from related strains. The daughter plasmid is fermented and cultured in the host cell, and then obtained by plasmid extraction. This method can produce daughter plasmids on a large scale to meet production requirements.
According to still another aspect, the present invention also provides a host cell including the foregoing daughter plasmid, where the daughter plasmid can replicate in the host cell. In some embodiments, the daughter plasmid can be obtained from the host cell by culture, collection, and extraction.
All the definitions and technical features of the foregoing daughter plasmid are suitable for the daughter plasmid in the host cell, which are all introduced herein. Details are not described again.
According to still another aspect, the present invention also provides a composition, including the foregoing daughter plasmid, where the content of the daughter plasmid is at least 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%.
In some embodiments, a method for determining the content of the daughter plasmid is an NGS analysis method or a gel electrophoresis imaging analysis method. In an embodiment, the content of the daughter plasmid is determined by the proportion of the sequence of the daughter plasmid in the composition by performing NGS analysis on the composition. In some embodiments, the content of the daughter plasmid in the composition determined by the NGS analysis method is at least 80%, 85%, 88%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%. In an embodiment, the content of the daughter plasmid in the composition determined by the NGS analysis method is at least 98%. In another embodiment, the content of the daughter plasmid in the composition determined by the NGS analysis method is at least 99%. In some embodiments, the composition uses the NGS analysis method, where the content of the resistant gene sequence is less than 0.1%, 0.08%, 0.06%, 0.04%, 0.02%, 0.01%, or 0.008%. In some other embodiments, the composition uses the NGS analysis method, where the content of the host cell genome is less than 10%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, or 1%. In some other embodiments, the composition is analyzed by the NGS analysis method, where the target daughter plasmid accounted for more than 90% of the composition, the residue of the resistance gene sequence is less than 0.02%, and the content of the host cell genome is less than 5%.
In another embodiment, the content of the daughter plasmid is determined by the band brightness of the corresponding position of the daughter plasmid in the supercoiled monomer form in gel imaging by performing gel electophoresis imaging analysis on the composition. In some embodiments, the content of the daughter plasmid in the composition determined by the gel electrophoresis imaging analysis method is at least 80%, 81%, 82%, 83%, 84%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%. In an embodiment, the content of the daughter plasmid in the composition determined by the gel electrophoresis imaging analysis method is at least 90%.
The plasmid without selectable markers prepared by using the precursor plasmid can be used in the field of gene and cell therapy as a DNA delivery vector or a virus packaging plasmid vector to improve the safety of the plasmid. Compared with minicircles, the production of the plasmid without antibiotic resistance genes involved in the present invention has the following advantages: 1) the plasmid has a high yield, and the plasmid without selectable markers involved in the present invention includes a replication element, which can replicate and amplify autonomously, and has a yield equivalent to that of conventional plasmids; 2) the plasmid product has a high purity, the precursor plasmid is recombined in the host bacteria, strains that do not contain the precursor plasmid are obtained by screening antibiotic-sensitive strains, the circular DNA containing the antibiotic resistant gene produced by recombination is naturally metabolized during bacterial culture due to the lack of replication capability, so that strains that only carry plasmids without resistance selectable markers can be obtained, and high-purity plasmid DNA can be prepared with the strains; and 3) the preparation process is easy to scale up, and the strains carrying plasmids without antibiotic resistance genes prepared by one-time recombination can be used for fermentation production of the same plasmid in different batches without repeated recombination preparation.
Unless otherwise specified, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. For the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the technical solutions provided herein, some technical terms are briefly described below.
Where the context permits or unless otherwise specified, the term “comprise” or “include” herein covers “consist of” and/or “essentially consist of” and the meaning of the term conforms to the provisions of the patent law.
“Plasmid” or “plasmid vector” can be used interchangeably herein, and refers to a circular DNA molecule with a replication original site (or referred to as a DNA replication element) to have an autonomous replication capability in a host cell. The plasmid may be a natural plasmid or a modified plasmid. The plasmid may include a selectable marker gene, such as an antibiotic resistant gene, so that host cells containing the plasmid can grow under specific culture conditions, while host cells that do not contain the plasmid cannot grow normally under the specific culture conditions. For example, host cells (such as E coli) containing a plasmid with a tetracycline resistant gene can grow in a culture medium containing tetracycline, and host cells that do not contain or lose the plasmid cannot grow or grow inhibited in the culture medium containing tetracycline. Therefore, the use of the selectable marker gene allows the technician to learn which host cells contain the desired plasmid to complete the screening. The plasmid or the modified plasmid may also include a cloning site to facilitate the insertion of a target gene. The target gene can replicate with the plasmid after inserted into the plasmid through the cloning site to achieve the amplification of the target gene; or the plasmid can be used for the expression of the target gene in a host cell when constructed as an expression plasmid. The cloning site may be a single cloning site or a multiple cloning site. To facilitate experimental operations, the multiple cloning site is usually preferred. The multiple cloning site herein refers to a DNA segment containing multiple sites recognized by restriction endonucleases or other endonucleases (such as homing endonucleases). For example, the restriction endonuclease may be Ahd I, AclI, HindIII, SspI, MiuCI, Tsp509I, PciI, AgeI, BspMI, BfuAI, SexAI, MluI, BceAI, Nde I, or EcoR I.
“Precursor plasmid” herein refers to a parent plasmid used to generate a target plasmid/daughter plasmid (such as a plasmid without a selectable marker gene). The “precursor plasmid” includes the following elements: a replication original site, which enables the plasmid to replicate in a host cell to increase or maintain the quantity of the precursor plasmid or the generated target plasmid in the host cell; a selectable marker gene, used for screening host cells; a target gene or a cloning site for inserting the target gene; and paired recombination sites, used for recombination in the presence of the corresponding recombinase to eliminate the sequence between the paired recombination sites. To generate a plasmid without the selectable marker gene, the selectable marker gene is usually inserted between the paired recombination sites (referring to
“Daughter plasmid”, also referred to as “mini plasmid”, “target plasmid”, and “plasmid without selectable markers” herein, refers to a sequence containing a replication original site and a cloning site and/or a target gene produced by recombination of a precursor plasmid containing a recombination site (such as the loxP sequence in the same direction) in the presence of a recombinase (such as the Cre recombinase). In some embodiments herein, the daughter plasmid includes a replication original site and a cloning site and/or a target gene sequence, but does not include a selectable marker gene. In some other embodiments herein, the backbone sequence of the daughter plasmid refers to a sequence not containing a target gene or a cloning site with a sequence length of less than 1000 bp, less than 900 bp, less than 800 bp, less than 700 bp, less than 600 bp, less than 500 bp, less than 400 bp, less than 300 bp, or less than 200 bp. In some specific embodiments, the length of the backbone sequence of the daughter plasmid may be 878 bp, 864 bp, 708 bp, 623 bp, or 429 bp.
A “daughter plasmid” is a plasmid with specific structure and characteristics as described in the specification and protected by the claims of this application. That is, it is a special plasmid, so that the definition can exist independently of “precursor plasmid” or “parent plasmid”. The inventor does not rule out that this special plasmid (i.e., daughter plasmid) can be obtained by methods other than the present invention, for example, instead of the use of a precursor plasmid, this special plasmid is prepared by other methods, but as long as the obtained plasmid meets the structure and/or definition of the “daughter plasmid” herein, it still falls within the protection scope of this application.
The “recombination site” herein refers to a nucleotide sequence that can be specifically recognized by the corresponding recombinase. When the precursor plasmid contains paired recombination sites in the same direction, under the action of the corresponding recombinase, recombination occurs between the recombination sites in the precursor plasmid, resulting in the generation of a molecule of daughter plasmid and a molecule of circular DNA. The sequence directions of the paired recombination sites in the precursor plasmid are the same. Under the action of the corresponding recombinase, the DNA fragment between the two recombination sites will be deleted to generate two DNA molecules. In some embodiments, the recombination site is the loxP sequence, and the corresponding recombinase is the Cre recombinase. In some other embodiments, the recombination site is the FRT sequence, and the corresponding recombinase is the Flp recombinase. In still some embodiments, the recombination site is the attB/attP sequence, and the recombinase is the PhiC31 recombinase. A person skilled in the art may understand that the recombination sites used in the precursor plasmid only need to cause the sequence (including the selectable marker gene) between them to be removed from the precursor plasmid during recombination and the remaining sequence to form the daughter plasmid. Therefore, these recombination sites are not limited to the specific sequences mentioned herein, but may be their mutants or other recombination sites. For example, the recombination site loxP mutant may be lox75, lox44, lox76, lox43, lox72, lox78, lox65, lox511, lox5171, or lox2272. The recombination site FRT may be wild-type or may be mutant, such as FRT3 and FRT5. In a specific embodiment herein, the recombination sites loxP are the lox71 and lox66 sequences, and the nucleotide sequences are as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 25 and 26. In another specific embodiment, the nucleotide sequence of the recombination site FRT is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 27. In a specific embodiment, the recombination site attB and attP sequences are as set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 48 and 49 respectively.
The term “recombinase” refers to an enzyme involved in the process of gene mapping and recombination. It is responsible for recognizing and cutting specific recombination sites and connecting two molecules involved in recombination. In this specification, the recombinase may be the Cre recombinase, the Flp recombinase, or the phiC31 recombinase. In some embodiments, the coding gene of the recombinase includes a sequence that has at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 93%, 95%, 97%, or 99% identity with a nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, 24, or 50. For example, the coding gene of the Cre recombinase includes the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, the Flp recombinase includes the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 24, and the phiC31 recombinase includes the nucleotide sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 50.
“Selectable marker” or “selectable marker gene” as used herein refers to a segment of selectable marker gene in a plasmid, vector or cell. The introduction of the gene into cells, especially cultured bacteria or cells, can express proper features for artificial selection. It is a reporter gene used to show whether foreign DNA has been successfully transfected or transformed into cells by other methods in the fields of microorganisms, molecular biology, and genetic engineering. The selectable marker gene is usually an antibiotic resistant gene, or may be some auxotrophic selectable markers such as glucosamine synthetase selectable markers and mannose phosphate isomerase selectable markers, or may be negative selectable markers such as anti-toxic gene or anti-SacB selectable markers. In this specification, the selectable marker gene may be an expression cassette, and may include other sequences for expressing the selectable marker gene, such as a promoter, an enhancer, and a terminator. The SacB gene is a structural gene that encodes levosucrose of Bacillus subtilis. In the presence of sucrose, the expression of SacB in Gram-negative bacteria is toxic.
“Screening stress” or “selection stress” can be used interchangeably. In this specification, it refers to the application of specific substances or conditions to organisms such as host cells in a culture condition (such as a culture medium), so that organisms that adapt to these specific substances or conditions can survive, and organisms that do not adapt are eliminated. For example, in this specification, an antibiotic such as kanamycin or ampicillin is added into the culture medium of the host cells, and this culture medium contains antibiotic selection stress, which can screen out host cells with the corresponding antibiotic resistance.
“Adjacent” herein means that two DNA sequence fragments are located upstream and downstream in the direction of gene replication, and positions of the two are very close. For example, the distance between the positions of the two gene fragments is less than 100 bp, less than 90 bp, less than 80 bp, less than 70 bp, less than 60 bp, less than 50 bp, less than 40 bp, less than 30 bp, less than 20 bp, less than 10 bp, less than 5 bp, less than 3 bp, or less than 1 bp. In some embodiments, the two gene fragments are directly connected. In this specification, the distance between positions of the replication original site and the target gene or cloning site in the direction of replication in the precursor plasmid may be less than 50 bp, less than 45 bp, less than 40 bp, less than 35 bp, less than 30 bp, less than 25 bp, less than 20 bp, less than 15 bp, less than 10 bp, less than 5 bp, less than 3 bp, or less than 1 bp. In some embodiments, the replication original site and the target gene or cloning site are directly connected. In some other embodiments, the distance between the replication original site and the target gene or cloning site in the direction of replication is 30 bp, 25 bp, 20 bp, 15 bp, 14 bp, 13 bp, 12 bp, 11 bp, 10 bp, 9 bp, 8 bp, 7 bp, 6 bp, 5 bp, 4 bp, 3 bp, 2 bp, or 1 bp.
In this specification, “the paired recombination sites are respectively adjacent to the upstream and downstream of the replication original site and the target gene” means that the distance between positions of any one of the paired recombination sites and one of the replication original site and the target gene that is closer to the recombination site may be less than 100 bp, less than 90 bp, less than 80 bp, less than 70 bp, less than 60 bp, less than 50 bp, less than 40 bp, less than 30 bp, less than 20 bp, less than 10 bp, less than 5 bp, less than 3 bp, or less than 1 bp. In some embodiments, one or two of the paired recombination sites are directly connected to the replication original site and the target gene, that is, the distance is 0 bp. In some other embodiments, the distance between positions of any one of the paired recombination sites and one of the replication original site and the target gene that is closer to the recombination site may be 70 bp, 65 bp, 60 bp, 55 bp, 50 bp, 45 bp, 40 bp, 35 bp, 30 bp, 25 bp, 20 bp, 15 bp, 14 bp, 13 bp, 12 bp, 11 bp, 10 bp, 9 bp, 8 bp, 7 bp, 6 bp, 5 bp, 4 bp, 3 bp, 2 bp, or 1 bp. In some embodiments, one of the paired recombination sites is directly connected to the replication original site and the target gene, and the distance between positions of the other of the paired recombination sites and the replication original site or the target gene may be 70 bp, 65 bp, 60 bp, 55 bp, 50 bp, 45 bp, 40 bp, 35 bp, 30 bp, 25 bp, 20 bp, 15 bp, 14 bp, 13 bp, 12 bp, 11 bp, 10 bp, 9 bp, 8 bp, 7 bp, 6 bp, 5 bp, 4 bp, 3 bp, 2 bp, or 1 bp. In some other embodiments, two of the paired recombination sites are both directly connected to the replication original site and the target gene. Similarly. “the paired recombination sites are respectively adjacent to the upstream and downstream of the replication original site and the cloning site” means that the replication original site is adjacent to the cloning site, and the distance between positions of any one of the paired recombination sites and one of the replication original site and the cloning site that is closer to the recombination site may be less than 100 bp, less than 90 bp, less than 80 bp, less than 70 bp, less than 60 bp, less than 50 bp, less than 40 bp, less than 30 bp, less than 20 bp, less than 10 bp, less than 5 bp, less than 3 bp, or less than 1 bp. In some embodiments, one or two of the paired recombination sites are directly connected to the replication original site and the cloning site, that is, the distance is 0 bp. In some other embodiments, the distance between positions of any one of the paired recombination sites and one of the replication original site and the cloning site that is closer to the recombination site may be 70 bp, 65 bp, 60 bp, 55 bp, 50 bp, 45 bp, 40 bp, 35 bp, 30 bp, 25 bp, 20 bp, 15 bp, 14 bp, 13 bp, 12 bp, 11 bp, 10 bp, 9 bp, 8 bp, 7 bp, 6 bp, 5 bp, 4 bp, 3 bp, 2 bp, or 1 bp. In some embodiments, one of the paired recombination sites is directly connected to the replication original site and the cloning site, and the distance between positions of the other of the paired recombination sites and the replication original site or the cloning site may be 70 bp, 65 bp, 60 bp, 55 bp, 50 bp, 45 bp, 40 bp, 35 bp, 30 bp, 25 bp, 20 bp, 15 bp, 14 bp, 13 bp, 12 bp, 11 bp, 10 bp, 9 bp, 8 bp, 7 bp, 6 bp, 5 bp, 4 bp, 3 bp, 2 bp, or 1 bp. In some other embodiments, two of the paired recombination sites are both directly connected to the replication original site and the cloning site. Preferably, in the related plasmid described, “the paired recombination sites are respectively adjacent to the upstream and downstream of the replication original site and the target gene”, and the replication original site is also adjacent to the target gene.
In this specification, the “target gene” may be designed with different nucleotide sequences according to different requirements, may include different element sequences such as a promoter, a coding gene of an expressed protein, and a terminator, and may further include a regulatory element such as an enhancer and polyA. The target gene may also include mRNA gene that encodes protein or peptide antigens and protein or peptide therapeutic agents, mRNA, shRNA, RNA, or microRNA that encodes RNA therapeutic agents, mRNA, shRNA, RNA, or microRNA that encodes RNA vaccines, and the like.
“Host cell” herein refers to a cell in which a plasmid can be maintained and/or replicated, including a prokaryote and a eukaryote, such as bacteria (E. coli), fungi (yeast), insect cells, and mammalian cells. In the method for preparing a plasmid that does not contain a selectable marker gene provided herein, the host cell provides necessary components (such as various enzymes and nucleotide monomer molecules) for the plasmid to replicate therein, and also provides the recombinase required for recombination. The expression of the recombinase in the host cell is preferably controllable expression or inducible expression. In some embodiments, the coding gene of the recombinase is integrated into the genome of the host cell. In some other embodiments, the coding gene of the recombinase is inserted into another expression vector, and the expression vector can be introduced into the host cell together with the precursor plasmid at the front or back. In some embodiments, the coding gene of the recombinase is contained in the precursor plasmid, and can express the recombinase after introduced into the host cell. Regardless of the embodiments, it is preferable to place the recombinase gene under the control of an inducible promoter, so that the technician can control the starting time of recombination.
“Conditionally induced loss-type plasmid replication element” herein means that the replication element loses the replication capability under certain conditions such as high temperature and inducer induction, so that the plasmid is gradually lost during host cell amplification. It may be a temperature-sensitive replication element or a metal ion-induced replication element, such as pSC101 on (ts).
For sequences, the term “identity” refers to the amount of identity between two sequences (such as a query sequence and a reference sequence), which is generally expressed as a percentage. Generally, before the calculation of the identity in percentage terms between two sequences, sequence alignment is first performed and gaps (if any) are introduced. At a certain alignment position, if the bases or amino acids in two sequences are the same, it is considered that the two sequences are identical or matched at the position; and if the bases or amino acids in two sequences are different, it is considered that the two sequences are not identical or mismatched at the position. In some algorithms, the number of matched positions is divided by the total number of positions in an alignment window to obtain the sequence identity. In some other algorithms, the number of gaps and/or the length of the gaps are also taken into account. For the purpose of the present invention, the public alignment software BLAST (available on ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) may be used to obtain the best sequence alignment and calculate the sequence identity between two nucleotide or amino acid sequences with default settings.
In this specification, the “plasmid copy number” refers to the copy number of plasmids in each cell. Single copy means that there is only one of the plasmid in the cell, and multicopy means that there are a plurality of the plasmids in the cell. The increase in the plasmid copy number increases the production yield of plasmids. In this specification, the daughter plasmid copy number is usually 10-20, and the high copy number can reach 500-800, or even higher.
“Plasmid backbone sequence” refers to a sequence used as a template to load the target gene in the genetic engineering plasmid, so that the target gene sequence can be selected and amplified in the host cell. The plasmid backbone sequence may include a plasmid replication functional element and other functional elements related to plasmid production performance. The plasmid backbone sequence may be of eukaryotic, prokaryotic or viral origin without the target gene.
The term “cloning site” refers to any nucleotide or nucleotide sequence that facilitates the linking of one polynucleotide (for example, polynucleotide of the target gene) to another polynucleotide (for example, the cloning vector). Generally, the cloning site includes one or more sites recognized by restriction endonucleases, for example, a multiple cloning site. In some embodiments, the “cloning site” may be a multiple cloning site (also referred to as MCS or polylinker). The multiple cloning site refers to a DNA segment containing multiple sites recognized by restriction endonucleases or other endonucleases (such as homing endonucleases).
polyA refers to a polyadenylation signal or site. Polyadenylation is the addition of a poly(A) tail to an RNA molecule. The polyadenylation signal includes a sequence motif recognized by the RNA cleavage complex. Most human polyadenylation signals contain the AAUAAA sequence and its conserved sequences 5′ and 3′. The commonly used polyA signals come from rabbit β-globin, bovine somatotropin, and SV40 early or SV40 late polyA signals.
The pMB1 replication original site (pMB1 ori) refers to the replication original site from the pMB1 plasmid, or may be a derivative of the replication original site from the pMB1 plasmid. The sequence of the pMB1 replication original site may be as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 44, and the sequence of the derivative of the pMB1 replication original site may be as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 43.
The pUC replication original site (pUC ori) refers to the replication original site of pBR322 derivation with a G to A substitution. It lacks the rop negative regulator and can increase the copy number at an increased temperature. Its sequence may be as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 45.
The R6K replication original site (R6K ori) refers to the region specifically recognized by the R6K Rep protein to initiate DNA replication. It includes, but is not limited to, the R6Kγ replication original site sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 46, and also includes a CpG-free version as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,609 by Drocourt et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
The rop gene sequence is a repressor of a primer. In this specification, the precursor plasmid may include the rop gene sequence. The removal of the rop sequence from the daughter plasmid by the recombinase results in a substantial increase in the plasmid copy number.
The term “transfection” refers to a method for delivering nucleic acid into a cell. For example, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), ISCOM, liposomes, nonionic surfactant vesicles (niosomes), virosomes, Pluronic block copolymers, chitosan, and other biodegradable polymers, particles, microspheres, calcium phosphate nanoparticles, nanoparticles, nanocapsules, nanospheres, poloxamine nanospheres, electroporation, nucleofection, piezoelectric penetration, acoustic perforation, iontophoresis, ultrasound, membrane rupture mediated by SQZ high-speed cell deformation, corona plasma, blood plasma facilitated delivery, tissue-tolerance blood plasma, laser micro-perforation, shock wave energy, magnetic field, non-contact magnetic penetration, gene gun, microneedles, microgrinding, hydrodynamic delivery, high-pressure tail vein injection, etc. are as known in the art and incorporated herein by reference.
“Terminator” or “transcription terminator” herein refers to a DNA sequence at the end of a marker gene or operon in bacteria for transcription. It may be an intrinsic transcription terminator or Rho-dependent transcription terminator. For an internal terminator, such as the trpA terminator, a hairpin structure is formed in the transcript and destroys the mRNA-DNA-RNA polymerase ternary complex. Alternatively, the Rho-dependent transcription terminator requires the Rho factor (an RNA helicase protein complex) to destroy a nascent mRNA-DNA-RNA polymerase ternary complex. In eukaryotes, the polyA signal is not a “terminator”, but is internal cleavage at the polyA site, which leaves an unblocked 5′ end on the 3′UTR RNA for nuclease digestion. The nuclease catches up with RNA Pol II and causes termination. The termination can be promoted in the short region of the poly A site by transforming the RNA Pol II pause site (eukaryotic transcription terminator). The pause of RNA Pol II allows the nuclease that transforms 3′UTR mRNA after PolyA cleavage to catch up with RNA Pol II at the pause site. A non-limiting list of the eukaryotic transcription terminator known in the art includes C2x4 and a gastrin terminator. The eukaryotic transcription terminator can increase mRNA levels by enhancing proper 3′ end processing of mRNA.
The present invention further provides a method for establishing a recombinase inducible expression system, including a method for preparing an expression vector containing a coding gene of the recombinase and transforming host bacteria, and a method for preparing a host cell genome containing the recombinase gene. The Cre recombinase inducible expression vector is used as an example, the method for preparing an expression vector containing a coding gene of the recombinase includes preparing the cre gene fragment and pSC101-araBAD linear vector; assembling the cre gene fragment and pSC101-araBAD linear vector into the pSC101-araBAD-cre(AmpR) plasmid, and transforming the plasmid into competent cells for culture and verification; and selecting clones correctly verified for plasmid extraction. For example, the method for preparing the Cre recombinase temperature-sensitive inducible expression vector includes: preparing the temperature-sensitive replicon pSC101 on (ts) fragment with the pCP20 plasmid; digesting the pSC101-araBAD-cre(AmpR) plasmid to obtain the araBAD-cre(AmpR) fragment; assembling the pSC101 ori (ts) fragment and the araBAD-cre(AmpR) fragment, transforming the assembled fragment into competent cells for culture and verification; and selecting clones with the verification successful, and extracting the plasmid to obtain the expression vector.
The method for integrating the Cre recombinase into the host cell genome includes: preparing the cre gene fragment and the pSC101-araBAD linear vector; assembling the cre gene fragment and the pSC101-araBAD linear vector into the pSC101-araBAD-cre(AmpR) plasmid, and transforming the plasmid into competent cells for culture and verification; selecting clones correctly verified for plasmid extraction; and performing seamless knock-in of the Cre specific recombinase inducible expression system on the host cell by using the λRed recombination technology and CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and culturing the host cell to obtain inducible expression strains of the Cre recombinase. The method for integrating the Flp recombinase into the host cell includes: preparing the flp gene fragment and the pSC101(ts)-araBAD linear vector; assembling the flp gene fragment and the pSC101(ts)-araBAD into the pSC101(ts)-araBAD-flp plasmid, and transforming the plasmid into competent cells for culture and verification; selecting clones correctly verified for plasmid extraction; and performing seamless knock-in of the Cre specific recombinase inducible expression system on the host cell by using the λRed recombination technology and CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and culturing the host cell (such as E. coli) to obtain inducible expression strains of the Flp recombinase.
For example, in some embodiments, the host cell (such as E coli) integrated with the recombinase coding gene may be first transformed with the precursor plasmid, the E coli containing the precursor plasmid is screened with selectable markers for culture, one part of the culture is exposed to the recombinase expression inducer (the other part of the culture may be stored for later use), and the expression of the recombinase causes the precursor plasmid to undergo recombination between the recombination sites, to form a molecule of daughter plasmid without the selectable marker gene and a molecule of circular DNA containing the selectable marker gene. The host cells continue to be cultured, and the host cells are screened with selectable markers. The host cell containing the precursor plasmid (without recombination) or the circular DNA has the selectable marker feature (for example, antibiotic resistance), while the host cell containing only the daughter plasmid does not have the selectable marker feature (does not have the antibiotic resistance). The host cells that cannot grow on the corresponding antibiotic are selected. The host cells that do not have the selectable marker feature are cultured to obtain the plasmids that do not contain the selectable marker gene.
In the embodiment of introducing the recombinase into the host cell by the expression vector, to prevent the expression vector from contaminating the final product (i.e., the plasmid without selectable marker gene), the expression vector preferably has an inducible loss-type expression, for example, including an inducible loss-type replication element, or using a temperature-sensitive replication element from the pSC101(ts) plasmid.
In some specific embodiments, a method for preparing a plasmid without selectable marker gene provided in the present invention includes the following steps:
A person skilled in the art can understand that one or more of foregoing steps may be omitted or the order thereof may be changed according to the situation, as long as the daughter plasmid, i.e., the marker-free plasmid, of the present invention can be obtained. Therefore, in some other specific embodiments, a method for preparing a marker-free plasmid provided in the present invention includes the following steps:
In some embodiments, the preparation method further includes the step of obtaining or preparing the precursor plasmid of the present invention before step 1). In some embodiments, the screening of steps 1) and 2) uses the screening stress corresponding to the selectable marker. In some embodiments, there is no screening stress for the cell culture in step 3).
The recombinase system, whether it is present on the precursor plasmid, in the host cell, or both, may be an inducible expression system or a constitutive expression system.
In this specification, “constitutive expression” means that gene expression (such as the recombinase system) is not affected by time, location, or environment, and has no temporal and spatial specificity. In contrast to the inducible expression, the constitutive expression does not require induction by other factors for stable expression, while the inducible expression requires induction by other factors for expression.
More specifically, a method for preparing a marker-free plasmid provided in the present invention includes the following steps:
(1) Construct a Precursor Plasmid that can be Recombined into a Circle DNA.
The precursor plasmid includes: a replication original site (e.g., a DNA replication element), a selectable marker gene, a pair of specific recombination sites in the same direction, and a target gene. The target gene does not contain a specific recombination site in the same type as the plasmid backbone. Except for the DNA replication element, the plasmid backbone sequence such as the selectable marker gene is located inside the pair of specific recombination sites. The precursor plasmid containing the target gene sequence and DNA replication element can be reconstituted under the action of the site-specific recombinase and divided into two circular double-stranded DNA. One contains the plasmid backbone sequence such as the selectable marker gene, which does not have the replication capability, and is gradually lost during cell amplification. The other is a mini plasmid containing only the DNA replication element and target gene sequence, which can be continuously amplified during cell amplification.
(2) Construct a Site-Specific Recombinase Inducible Expression System in E. coli.
The site-specific recombinase inducible expression system may be constructed on the plasmid vector, and then transformed into the E. coli host cell for expression or integrated onto the E. coli host cell genome for expression. The expression system contains: an inducible prokaryotic transcription promoter, e.g., the araBAD promoter, a site-specific recombinase gene, and a transcription terminator. The site-specific recombinase gene may include: a. the Cre recombinase derived from the P1 bacteriophage Cre-loxP recombination system, corresponding to the pair of specific recombination sites in the same direction in (1) being the loxP sequence (such as lox71/lox66); b. the Flp recombinase derived from the brewer's yeast Flp-FRT recombination system, corresponding to the pair of specific recombination sites in the same direction in (1) being the FRT sequence. When the recombinase expression system is constructed on the plasmid vector, the vector plasmid may be a conditionally induced loss-type plasmid replication element, e.g., the temperature-sensitive replication element pSC101(ts) plasmid, to ensure that the plasmid product without selectable markers does not have the recombinase expression plasmid contamination.
The E. coli strain carrying the site-specific recombinase inducible expression system is prepared as competent cells, the precursor plasmid is transformed, and the transformed positive clones are screened by using a selection culture medium corresponding to the selectable marker gene on the precursor plasmid. If the recombinase system is constructed on the plasmid, the recombinase expression plasmid and the precursor plasmid may be co-transformed into conventional E. coli competent cells, and the transformed positive clones are screened through culture by using a double-selection culture medium.
(4) Culture Cells, and Induce the Expression of the Recombinase, so that the Precursor Plasmid Undergoes Self-Recombination.
The transformed positive clones in (3) are selected, and the strain is cultured and enriched in the selection culture medium corresponding to the selectable marker overnight. The cells are washed with a liquid culture medium without selection stress, a culture medium without selection stress containing the inducer is used to resuspend the strain and induce the expression of the recombinase to perform recombination between the two recombination sites carried by the plasmid, and the plasmid backbone sequence such as the selectable marker gene between the recombination sites is deleted to form the mini plasmid without selectable markers.
(5) Separate and Purify to Screen Out Monoclonal Strains without Selectable Marker Gene.
A flat plate without selection stress is streaked with the fully recombined bacterial solution in (4) to separate a single colony. The single colony is copied on a selection culture plate and a non-selection (e.g., antibiotic-free) culture plate that contain the selectable marker gene to culture overnight. The colony on the antibiotic-free plate that cannot grow in the corresponding antibiotic plate is selected for culture to obtain the strain containing only the plasmid without selectable markers.
(6) Culture the Strain Obtained in (5) in a Non-Selection (e.g., Antibiotic-Free) Culture Medium, and Extract the Plasmid, to Obtain a Final Product of the Mini Plasmid without Selectable Markers.
To avoid the safety risks of gene therapy caused by antibiotic resistant genes and achieve high purity and large-scale production of plasmids, the mini plasmid without the selectable marker gene (e.g., antibiotic resistance selectable marker) and with the product plasmid backbone containing only the replication original site (DNA replication element) and the production method thereof provided in the present invention greatly reduces the proportion of bacterial-derived sequences in the product plasmid, and reduces potential safety risks. In addition, it also achieves separation, purification, culture, and amplification of the positive strain containing the plasmid product, and resolves the problem of low purity of the plasmid without selectable markers and difficulty in large-scale production.
The beneficial technical effects of the present invention include, but are not limited to that: the plasmid obtained by the method in the present invention has no antibiotic selectable marker, and has no extra prokaryotic DNA elements except the replication original site; and the plasmid without antibiotic selectable markers has no antibiotic drugs added during production, and is easy to scale up for production to achieve large-scale production.
The plasmid without selectable markers provided in the present invention can be used in the field of gene and cell therapy as a DNA delivery vector or a virus packaging plasmid vector to improve the safety and stability of the plasmid and reduce cytotoxicity.
The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail below by using the examples and the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the methods and materials in the examples described below are commercially available and conventional products. A person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs will understand that the methods and materials as described below are only exemplary and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention.
In this example, a site-specific recombinase inducible expression system was constructed in the E. coli JM108. This set of system contains an inducible prokaryotic transcription promoter araBAD promoter, a site-specific recombinase gene cre, and a transcription terminator. The system was constructed and expressed in the host bacteria in the following two ways:
1.1 The Cre specific recombinase inducible expression system was constructed on a vector plasmid of the pSC101(ts) replication system to transform the JM108 for expression. The specific steps were as follows:
(1) Preparation of Cre Gene Fragment and pSC101-araBAD Linear Vector
Preparation of cre gene fragment: the cre gene fragment was amplified with primers cre-F and cre-R (the primer sequences were respectively as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2 and SEQ ID NO: 3), and the cre fragment was synthesized by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (the cre gene sequence was as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1). The amplification system and PCR system are shown in Table 1 and Table 2. the Phusion®HF DNA polymerase was commercially available from New England Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of 10058481. The theoretical size of the cre gene fragment is 1116 bp. Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed on the amplification product, and the fragment size of the amplification product obtained through the electrophoresis was correct (as shown in
Preparation of pSC101-araBAD linear vector: the pSC101-araBAD linear vector was derived from the pKD46 plasmid with NCBI Sequence ID: AY048746.1. The pKD46 plasmid was digested with EcoR I, and the linear vector was recovered. The digestion system is shown in Table 3. The EcoRI restriction endonuclease was commercially available from New England Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of 10079659. The digestion system was reacted at 37° C. for 45 min. The digestion product was run on agarose gel for electrophoresis. As shown in
(2) Assembly of pSC101-araBAD-Cre(AmpR) Plasmid
The assembly system is shown in Table 4. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009. A reaction liquid was formulated to react at 50° C. for 15 min, and the product was transformed into the DH10b competence and cultured in an incubator at 37° C.
(3) Verification of pSC101-araBAD-Cre(AmpR) Plasmid
A single colony was selected on a transformation plate from the foregoing step, and then transferred into a 48-well plate for culture at 37° C. and 220 rpm overnight. Colony PCR was performed with the primers cre-seq1/cre-seq2 (the sequences of the two primers were as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4 and SEQ ID NO: 5 respectively, and the size of the amplification fragment was 1069 bp). The product was verified through agarose gel electrophoresis. As shown in
(4) Construction of Temperature-Sensitive Plasmid pSC101(Ts)-araBAD-Cre
Preparation of temperature-sensitive replicon pSC101 on (ts) fragment: the pSC101 on (ts) fragment (the sequence was as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 23) was PCR-amplified by using the pCP20 plasmid (NCBI Sequence ID: MK178598.1) as a template. The amplification primers pSC101(ts)-F and pSC101(ts)-R are as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6 and SEQ ID NO: 7 respectively in the primer sequence list. The PCR system and procedure are shown in Table 5 and Table 6. The pSC101 on (ts) fragment product obtained by amplification was run on agarose gel for electrophoresis. As shown in lanes 2 and 3 in
Preparation of araBAD-cre(AmpR) fragment: the pSC101-araBAD-cre(AmpR) plasmid prepared in step (3) was treated with Nco I and Not I. The digestion system is shown in Table 7. As shown in lanes 4 and 5 in
The pSC101(ts)-araBAD-cre(AmpR) plasmid was assembled. As shown in Table 8, the reaction system was reacted at 50° C. for 15 min. The assembled product was transformed into the DH10b competence and cultured in an incubator at 30° C. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
PCR verification was performed on the pSC101(ts)-araBAD-cre plasmid. A single colony in a transformation plate in the foregoing step was selected and transferred into a 48-well plate to culture at 30° C. and 220 rpm, 8 clones correctly verified by PCR were randomly selected to extract plasmids for sanger sequencing (provided by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd.). Referring to
1.2 The inducible expression system of the Cre recombinase was integrated onto the JM108 genome for expression through λRed recombination and CRISPR/Cas9 editing. The strain editing and verification operations 3)-5) were completed by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (CRISPR products and services (genscript.com.cn)) with the specific steps as follows:
The establishment of the Flp recombinase inducible expression system may refer to the establishment of the Cre recombinase expression system in Example 1. The Flp recombinase inducible expression system includes an inducible prokaryotic transcription promoter araBAD promoter, a site-specific recombinase gene flp, and a transcription terminator. The system was constructed and expressed in the host bacteria in the following two ways:
2.1 The Flp specific recombinase inducible expression system was constructed on a vector plasmid of the pSC101 ori(ts) temperature-sensitive replication system to transform the JM108 for expression. The specific operation was as follows:
(1) Preparation of flp Gene Fragment and pSC101(Ts)-araBAD Linear Vector
Preparation of flp gene fragment: the flp gene (with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 24) was derived from the pCP20 plasmid, and the flp gene was amplified with the primers flp-F and flp-R (with the sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 16 and SEQ ID NO: 17 respectively). The amplification system and PCR system are shown in Table 9 and Table 10. As shown in
Preparation of pSC101(ts)-araBAD linear vector: the pSC101(ts)-araBAD-cre plasmid was digested with Nde I and EcoR I-HF (commercially available from New England Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under article numbers of 10064897 and 10079659 respectively) to prepare the linear vector. The size of the pSC101(ts)-araBAD-cre plasmid was 5876 bp. The digestion product was run on agarose gel for electrophoresis. As shown in
(2) Assembly of pSC101(Ts)-araBAD-Flp Plasmid
The assembly system is shown in Table 12. The assembly system was reacted at 50° C. for 15 min. After the assembly was completed, the assembled product was transformed into the DH10b competence and cultured in an incubator at 30° C. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
(3) Verification of pSC101(Ts)-araBAD-Flp Plasmid
8 single colonies were randomly selected from the foregoing plate and then inoculated in 4 mL of LB liquid culture medium for culture at 30° C. and 220 rpm. The plasmids were extracted for sanger sequencing, and the sequencing was completed by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Referring to
2.2 The inducible expression system of the Flp recombinase was integrated onto the JM108 genome for expression through λRed recombination and CRISPR/Cas9 editing. The specific steps were the same as step 1.2 in Example 1.
3.1 Construction of pMF9-Loxp Precursor Empty Vector Plasmid
The pMF9-loxp precursor empty vector plasmid includes a DNA replication element pMB1 derivative (784 bp, SEQ ID NO: 43), a resistance selectable marker gene KanR, a pair of specific recombination sites lox71/lox66 in the same direction (as shown in the sequence list, the lox71 sequence is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 25, and the lox66 sequence is as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 26), and a multiple cloning site MCS. The multiple cloning site and the replication element are located between lox71 and lox66 (as shown in
3.2 Preparation of pMF9-Loxp Linear Vector
The pMF9-loxp plasmid was digested with BamHI-HF (New England Biotechnology Co., Ltd., 10081013). The digestion system is shown in Table 14. The digestion system was reacted at 37° C. for 45 min. The size of the pMF9-loxp plasmid is 3191 bp. As shown in
3.3 Assembly of pMF9-Loxp-5.5 kb Precursor Plasmid
The fragment (target gene) with a length of 5.5 kb and without the loxP site was inserted between the loxP sites. The fragment was amplified and recovered using a pair of primers with a homology arm. The sequences of the primers are shown in the sequence list (as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 12 and SEQ ID NO: 13 respectively). The recovered fragment and the pMF9-loxp linear vector prepared in Example 3.2 were assembled. The assembly system is shown in Table 15. The assembly was carried out at 50° C. for 15 min. The assembly system was transformed to JM108. 50 μL/100 μL of the transformed product was poured and cultured at 37° C. overnight. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
3.4 Verification of pMF9-Loxp-5.5 kb Plasmid
The assembled pMF9-loxp-5.5 kb plasmid grew a single colony on the plate after transformation, 8 single clones were randomly selected to be inoculated in 4 mL of LB liquid culture medium for culture at 37° C. and 220 rpm. The plasmids were extracted for sanger sequencing. As shown in
4.1 Construction of pMF65-Loxp Precursor Empty Vector Plasmid
Plasmid safety is critical in gene and cell therapy. The sequence on the plasmid backbone is potentially immunogenic, leading to adverse reactions. Shortening the plasmid backbone has always been the optimization direction of plasmids related to gene and cell therapy. The precursor plasmid vector designed in this example can be recombined to obtain a daughter plasmid containing only about 0.65 KB of pMB1 replication element sequence, which reduces the introduction of foreign gene sequences, reduces potential cytotoxicity and immunogenicity, and improves safety and stability.
The plasmid was constructed based on the pUC57(KanR) plasmid (with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 29, synthesized by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd.), including a DNA replication element pMB1 (589 bp. SEQ ID NO: 44), a resistance selectable marker gene KanR, a pair of specific recombination sites lox71/lox66 in the same direction, and a multiple cloning site. The replication element and the cloning site are located between lox71 and lox66 (the plasmid is shown in
The pUC57(KanR) plasmid was treated with the restriction endonuclease sall/BamHI at the multiple cloning insertion site, and the pUC57(KanR) plasmid was digested into a linear vector. The digestion system is shown in Table 16. Referring to
The pMF65-loxp plasmid was assembled. The system is shown in Table 19. The system was reacted at 50° C. for 15 min. After the assembly was completed, the assembled product was transformed into the JM108 competence and cultured at 37° C. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
Verification of pMF65-Loxp Plasmid
The assembled pMF65-loxp plasmid grew a single colony on the plate after transformation. Single clones were selected to be inoculated in 4 mL of LB liquid culture medium for culture at 37° C. and 220 rpm. The plasmids were extracted for sanger sequencing. As shown in
4.2 Construction of pMF65-Loxp-RFP Precursor Plasmid
The construction of the pMF65-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid refers to the construction of pMF9-loxp-5.5 kb in Example 3. That is, the rfp red chromogenic gene (with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 28) was inserted into the MCS of the pMF65-loxp plasmid as a foreign fragment (the structural diagram is shown in
The pMF65-loxp vector and the inserted fragment RFP were amplified by PCR. The size of the vector fragment is 2182 bp, and the size of the RFP fragment is 1150 bp (the sequences of two pairs of primers are as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 35, SEQ ID NO: 36, SEQ ID NO: 37, and SEQ ID NO: 38 respectively). The amplification system is shown in Table 20. The amplification procedure is shown in Table 21. Referring to
The pMF65-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid was assembled. The system is shown in Table 22. The system was reacted at 50° C. for 15 min. After the assembly was completed, the assembled product was transformed into the JM108 competence and cultured at 37° C. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
Verification of pMF65-Loxp-RFP Precursor Plasmid
The assembled pMF65-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid grew a single colony on the plate after transformation. Single clones were selected to be inoculated in 4 mL of LB liquid culture medium for culture at 37° C. and 220 rpm. The plasmids were extracted for sanger sequencing. As shown in
5.1 Construction of pMF7-Loxp-RFP Plasmid
The plasmid in this example contains a high-copy pUC replicon to improve the yield and purity of the plasmid without selectable markers, simplify the preparation process, reduce production costs, and facilitate large-scale production.
The plasmid was constructed based on the pUC57(KanR) plasmid (with the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 29), including a DNA replication element pUC ori (674 bp, SEQ ID NO: 45), a resistance selectable marker gene KanR, a gene sequence coding the Rop protein, a pair of specific recombination sites lox71/lox66 in the same direction, and a target gene RFP sequence. The replication element and the target gene are located between lox71 and lox66 (the structure is shown in
6.1 Construction of pMF5-Loxp-RFP Precursor Plasmid
This example shows that the method of the present invention is suitable for preparation of the plasmid without selectable markers of different types of replication elements, and the method has universal applicability. R6Kγ on (389 bp, SEQ ID NO: 46) is a replicon different from pMB1 or pUC in Examples 3, 4, and 5. The R6Kγ sequence has a shorter length, which can further shorten the backbone length of the daughter plasmid and reduce cytotoxicity.
The pMF5-loxP-RFP precursor plasmid includes a DNA replication element R6Kγ ori, a resistance selectable marker gene KanR, a pair of specific recombination sites lox71/lox66 in the same direction, and a target gene inserted into the sequence RFP. The replication element and the inserted gene are located between lox71 and lox66 (the structure is shown in
The construction of the pMF9-FRT-RFP precursor plasmid (the structure is shown in
Preparation of pMF9 vector fragment: PCR amplification was performed on the vector with the pMF9-loxP-RFP plasmid as a template. The primers FRT-F2 and FRT-R2 are shown in the primer sequence list as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 20 and SEQ ID NO: 21 respectively. The PCR system and PCR procedure are shown in Table 16 and Table 17 respectively. Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed on the amplification product. As shown in lanes 4 and 5 in
7.2 The pMF9-FRT-RFP plasmid was assembled. The assembly system is shown in Table 25. The assembly system was reacted at 50° C. for 15 min. After the assembly was completed, the assembled product was transformed into the DH10b competence and cultured at 37° C. The Gene Builder™ cloning Kit was commercially available from Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of C20012009.
7.3 Verification of pMF9-FRT-RFP Plasmid
8 single colonies were randomly selected from the transformation plate and sent to Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. for sanger sequencing. Referring to
This example describes methods of induced recombination, resistance screening, and plasmid purification based on single-plasmid transformation by using JM108 araBAD-cre+pMF9-loxp-5.5kb as an example, but is not limited to the Cre-loxP recombination system. The specific operations are as follows:
The competence was prepared with the genetically modified strain JM108 araBAD-cre in Example 1, and the precursor plasmid pMF9-loxp-5.5kb was transformed and then poured on the kanamycin plate. The specific transformation steps are as follows:
The JM108 araBAD-cre competence was placed on ice to melt naturally; 1 μL of the plasmid was added into the competence on ice, and the competence and the plasmid were mixed uniformly, and the mixture was ice-bathed at 42° C. for 30 min, heat shocked for 90s, and then ice-bathed for 3 min. The mixture was added into 800 μL of fresh LB liquid culture medium and incubated in a full-temperature shaking incubator at 37° C. and 220 rpm for 45 min. A proper amount of bacterial solution was poured on a solid plate of LB+Kan+1% glucose and then cultured in an incubator at 37° C. overnight. Single colonies with a normal size were selected for subsequent experiments.
A certain amount of arabinose was added into the JM108 araBAD-cre pMF9-loxp-5.5 kb culture system to induce expression of the Cre recombinase to achieve the Cre-loxP recombination. The specific operations are as follows:
3-4 JM108 araBAD-cre pMF9-loxp-5.5 kb colonies were selected to be inoculated in 4 mL of liquid culture medium of LB+Kan (kanamycin, 30 μg/mL)+1% glucose for culture at 37° C. and 220 rpm overnight, and the strains were enriched. The strains were collected to be washed twice with antibiotic-free LB and then resuspended with an induction solution (induction solution: LB+2% arabinose). The induced recombination was carried out at 37° C. and 220 rpm for 1 h. antibiotic-free LB solid plate was streaked with 5 μL of recombined bacterial solution to culture in an incubator at 37° C. overnight, and plasmids were extracted from the remaining bacterial solution for verification. The digestion system is shown in Table 26. The Ahd I restriction endonuclease was commercially available from New England Biotechnology Co., Ltd. under an article number of 10079968. Agarose gel electrophoresis was carried out. Taking original plasmids as a control, the electrophoresis result is shown in
The result shows that: the size of the precursor plasmid pMF9-loxp-5.5 kb is 8720 bp, and after the recombination, the size of the resistant circular DNA generated is 2270 bp and the size of the pMF9-5.5 kb plasmid generated is 6450 bp. It can be learned according to
The result of resistance screening plate and plasmid verification shows that the remaining precursor plasmids and resistance genes are eliminated through Kan resistance reverse screening, and the marker-free plasmid is obtained efficiently.
This example tests the feasibility of reducing the pMB1 replication element of the precursor plasmid to the shortest length for the production of the plasmids without selectable markers in the present invention based on the pMF65-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid in Example 4. The specific implementation is the same as Example 8. The recombination of the precursor plasmid was achieved through induction. As shown in
This example tests the feasibility of the high-copy precursor plasmid backbone for the production of the plasmids without selectable markers in the present invention based on the pMF7-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid in Example 5. The specific implementation is the same as Example 8. The recombination of the precursor plasmid was achieved through induction. As shown in
In the double-plasmid recombination system, the recombinase expression system is loaded on the plasmid vector and transformed into the host strain together with the precursor plasmid. Multicopy plasmids can increase the expression amount of the recombinase and improve the recombination efficiency. The double-plasmid recombination system does not require strain modification, and is suitable for the preparation of plasmids without selectable markers in general commercial strains.
This example describes methods of induced recombination, resistance screening, and plasmid purification based on double-plasmid transformation by using the pSC101(ts)-araBAD-flp temperature-sensitive plasmid prepared in Example 2 and the pMF9-FRT-RFP plasmid prepared in Example 7. However, this example is not limited to the FLP-FRT recombination system. The specific operations are as follows:
11.1 Co-Transformation of pSC101(Ts)-araBAD-Flp Plasmid and pMF9-FRT-RFP Plasmid
1 μL of pSC101(ts)-araBAD-flp plasmid and 1 μL of pMF9-FRT-RFP plasmid were transformed with the JM108 competence as the host bacteria. The transformation steps are the same as Example 8.1.
In this example, the arabinose was added into the JM108 pSC101(ts)-araBAD-flp pMF9-FRT-RFP culture system to induce the expression of the Flp enzyme, achieving the Flp-FRT recombination. The treatment of the control group is the same as that of the experimental group. The specific operations are as follows:
This example describes methods of induced recombination, resistance screening, and plasmid purification based on double-plasmid transformation by using the pSC101(ts)-amBAD-cre plasmid prepared in Example 1(4) and the pMF5-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid prepared in Example 6.
12.1 Co-Transformation of pSC101(Ts)-araBAD-Cre Plasmid and pMF5-Loxp-RFP Precursor Plasmid
The pir2 competence provided by Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was selected for the host bacteria. 1 μL of pSC101(ts)-araBAD-cre plasmid and 1 μL of pMF5-loxp-RFP precursor plasmid were transformed. The transformation steps are the same as Example 8.1.
12.2 The specific implementations of recombination, screening, and purification are the same as Examples 8.2 and 8.3. The recombination of the precursor plasmid was achieved through induction. As shown in
In this example, host E. coli cells carrying the pMF9-5.5 kb, pMF65-RFP, and pMF7-RFP plasmids with correct digestion and good plasmid supercoil bands in Examples 8, 9, and 10 were sent to Nanjing GenScript Biotechnology Co., Ltd. for large-scale plasmid preparation, referring to https://www.genscript.com.cn/industrial-grade-plasmid.html.
pMF9-5.5kb plasmid: 0.5-1.2 mg/L. Digestion verification was performed on 300 ng of the plasmids. The size of the plasmid is 6450 bp. The gel electrophoresis detection result shows that the band size is correct (as shown in
pMF65-RFP plasmid: 0.3-1 mg/L. Digestion verification was performed on 300 ng of the plasmids. The gel electrophoresis detection result shows that the size of the plasmid is 1743 bp, and the band size is correct (as shown in
pMF7-RFP plasmid: 3.24.1 mg/L. Digestion verification was performed on 300 ng of the plasmids. The gel electrophoresis detection result shows that the size of the plasmid is 1828 bp, and the band size is correct (as shown in
The implementations of the present invention are not limited to those described in the above examples. Without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications and improvements to the present invention in form and details, and these are deemed to fall within the protection scope of the present invention.
Some nucleic acid sequence information mentioned in this specification is as follows:
Some primer sequence information mentioned in this specification is as follows:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202110413747.X | Apr 2021 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2021/133141 | 11/25/2021 | WO |
