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Biomedical subjects

Zhengquan He

Publications and source records attributed to Zhengquan He.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Expression of active hBMP2 in transgenic tobacco plants.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) is important for bone tissue repair. The goal of this research is to construct a high level human BMP2 (hBMP2) expression system using transgenic tobacco plants as a bioreactor. Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) enhancer, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) enhancer, matrix attachment regions (MARs) sequence, and "Kozak" sequence were used to construct recombinant expression vectors and the high-expression vectors were screened out through GUS-fusions assay. The promoter is the most important factor; double-CaMV 35S promoter is more effective than single promoter. The AMV or TMV enhancer is able to promote the foreign protein expression. After four-step purification, the activated hBMP2 (0.02% total soluble protein) was obtained. Our results suggested that the transgenic tobacco has great potential to be used as a bioreactor to produce hBMP2.

Animals↗

Mannose selection system used for cucumber transformation.

The selectable marker system, which utilizes the pmi gene encoding for phosphomannose-isomerase that converts mannose-6-phosphate to fructose-6-phosphate, was adapted for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Only transformed cells were capable of utilizing mannose as a carbon source. The highest transformation frequency of 23% was obtained with 10 g/l mannose and 10 g/l sucrose in the medium. Molecular, genetic analysis, and PMI activity assay showed that the regenerated shoots contained the pmi gene and the gene was transmitted to the progeny in a Mendelian fashion. The results indicated that the mannose selection system, which is devoid of the disadvantages of antibiotic or herbicide selection, could be used for cucumber Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

Cucumis sativus↗

Effects of codon modification on human BMP2 gene expression in tobacco plants.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) has great potential in therapeutic applications. We are working on generating transgenic plants as a bioreactor to produce BMP2. We have studied the effects of codon optimization on the expression of human BMP2 (hBMP2) in tobacco plants. Three modified hBMP2 genes were transformed into tobacco under the control of either cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV35S) promoter or double-CaMV35S promoter plus alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) enhancer. The fused beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene was used to facilitate the assay of protein expression. The results indicated that codon optimization could increase the protein expression level obviously under CaMV35S promoter. However, under relatively stronger initiation condition (double-CaMV35S promoter plus AMV enhancer), only the gene with the lowest degree of codon optimization could increase the protein expression level. Our findings suggest that the action of codon optimization may be influenced by the factors of promoter strength and A+T content in tobacco plants.

Base Sequence↗