Non-viral transfection of goat germline stem cells by nucleofection results in production of transgenic sperm after germ cell transplantation

Germline stem cells (GSCs) can be used for large animal transgenesis, in which GSCs that are genetically manipulated in vitro are transplanted into a recipient testis to generate donor-derived transgenic sperm. The objectives of this study were to explore a non-viral approach for transgene delivery into goat GSCs and to investigate the efficiency of nucleofection in producing transgenic sperm. Four recipient goats received fractionated irradiation at 8 weeks of age to deplete endogenous GSCs. Germ cell transplantations were performed 8-9 weeks post-irradiation. Donor cells were collected from testes of 9-week-old goats, enriched for GSCs by Staput velocity sedimentation, and transfected by nucleofection with a transgene construct harboring the human growth hormone gene under the control of the goat beta-casein promoter (GBC) and a chicken beta-globin insulator (CBGI) sequence upstream of the promoter. For each recipient, transfected cells from 10 nucleofection reactions were pooled, mixed with non-transfected cells to a total of 1.5 × 10(8) cells in 3 ml, and transplanted into one testis (n = 4 recipients) by ultrasound-guided cannulation of the rete testis. The second testis of each recipient was removed. Semen was collected, starting at 9 months after transplantation, for a period of over a year (a total of 62 ejaculates from four recipients). Nested genomic PCR for hGH and CBGI sequences demonstrated that 31.3% ± 12.6% of ejaculates were positive for both hGH and CBGI. This study provides proof-of-concept that non-viral transfection (nucleofection) of primary goat germ cells followed by germ cell transplantation results in transgene transmission to sperm in recipient goats.

Bisphenols that stimulate cells to release alkali metal cations: a structure-activity study

The laxative action of phenolphthalein (5) is believed to result from induction of potassium and water efflux from the colon epithelium. In cultured cells, K+ efflux is promoted by 5 and by a contaminant (1) present in commercial phenol red. Six compounds with chemical structures related to those of 5 and 1 were tested for ability to induce the release of 86Rb from COS-7 cells preloaded with this isotope: 4,4'-(9-fluorenylidene)diphenol (2), 4, 4'-(9-fluorenylidene)dianiline, 4, 4'-(9-fluorenylidene)bisphenoxyethanol, 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol, 4, 4'-biphenol, and bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)methane. With one exception these compounds were all inactive at a concentration of 10 microM. However, 2 caused profound 86Rb efflux at concentrations as low as 100 nM. Concentrations of 5 1-2 orders of magnitude higher were needed to achieve similar levels of activity. The three compounds known to be active in this experimental system share a common feature that is absent in all the inactive compounds: a five-membered ring structure, one of whose carbon atoms is disubstituted with p-hydroxyphenyl residues. Because 2 and 5 are readily available, comparative studies on the mechanism of action of these biphenols at the cellular level can now be undertaken.