Co-transduction of Sleeping Beauty Transposase and Donor Plasmid via a Cell-penetrating Peptide: A simple one step Method

摘要

Transposable elements have emerged as a promising candidate for human non-viral gene-therapy. The Tcl/mariner transposon Sleeping Beauty is to date one of the most efficient transposons in mammals. Sleeping Beauty transposase has so far mostly been delivered to cells via a DNA source. This might cause spontaneous integration of the transposase gene and cause fatal damage to the affected cell. Hence, it would be advantageous to employ a non-genetic source for the transposase. We here show that a novel Cell-penetrating peptide, M918, has the ability to facilitate cellular delivery of both the transposase Sleeping Beauty as a protein and a transposon donor-plasmid carrying an antibiotic resistance gene in vitro. The technique is a simple and straightforward one-step method that might render a safe and efficient delivery platform for Sleeping Beauty mediated gene therapy.