Expression of the transgene is consistently inherited to high numbers of generations and independent on its source

Abstract

Most studies on transgenic bioreactors have focused on expression levels of interest genes. In this study we examined whether transgenic bioreactors would inherit expression level of the transgene to long.term generations independently of transgene sources. We employed three transgenic mice, which were separately reported, carrying different transgenes and copy numbers, 27 kb of hLF and 22 kb of hIL.10 genomic sequences, and 1.3 kb of hTPO cDNA, respectively. Three females of the transgenic lineages crossbred with a wild.type male up to 20 generations to test transgenic frequencies of their progenies and to determine expression levels of the transgenes. Ultimately, transmission rates of hLF, hIL.10, and hTPO were 64.3±7.0, 59.3±9.8, and 56.1±9.7, respectively, appeared following Mendelian pattern of inheritance. Notably, we found that levels of expressions of hLF, hIL.10, and hTPO in milk were sustained to high numbers of generations. No transgene silencing of expression was observed in every generations of all transgenic mice. In conclusion, we suggest that once established animal bioreactors could consistently transmit the transgene to continual generations, without loss of expressional activity, independently of transgene sources.