Enhancing gene expression by linking self-amplifying transcription factor with viral 2A-like peptide

摘要

The invention describes a nucleic acid system, named as “2A-transcription amplifier”, for enhancing gene expression by linking a gene of interest (GOI) to a self-amplifying transcription factor with a viral 2A-like peptide. The system comprises an upstream activation sequence (UAS) at upstream promoter region and another sequence encoding a specific transcription factor (TF), a viral 2A-like peptide, and a gene of interest (GOI). The said compositions are operably linked in a way that the initially expressed TF protein binds the UAS region and promotes more TF and GOI co-expression. The viral 2A-like peptide separates the co-expressed TF and GOI protein during protein translation by the mechanism of ribosomal skidding. The system creates a transcription amplification loop that can be employed for enhancing expression of exogenous or endogenous gene of interest (GOI) in eukaryotic cells, tissues or whole organisms.