Finding of a highly efficient ZFN pair for Aqpep gene functioning in murine zygotes

J Reprod Dev. 2015;61(6):589-93. doi: 10.1262/jrd.2015-087. Epub 2015 Oct 9.

Abstract

The generation efficiencies of mutation-induced mice when using engineered zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) have been generally 10 to 20% of obtained pups in previous studies. The discovery of high-affinity DNA-binding modules can contribute to the generation of various kinds of novel artificial chromatin-targeting tools, such as zinc-finger acetyltransferases, zinc-finger histone kinases and so on, as well as improvement of reported zinc-finger recombinases and zinc-finger methyltransferases. Here, we report a novel ZFN pair that has a highly efficient mutation-induction ability in murine zygotes. The ZFN pair induced mutations in all obtained mice in the target locus, exon 17 of aminopeptidase Q gene, and almost all of the pups had biallelic mutations. This high efficiency was also shown in the plasmid DNA transfected in a cultured human cell line. The induced mutations were inherited normally in the next generation. The zinc-finger modules of this ZFN pair are expected to contribute to the development of novel ZF-attached chromatin-targeting tools.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Microinjections
  • Mutation
  • Plasmids
  • Zinc Fingers / genetics*
  • Zygote