An Efficient In Vitro Transposition Method by a Transcriptionally Regulated Sleeping Beauty System Packaged into an Integration Defective Lentiviral Vector

Summary

This protocol describes a method to achieve stable integration of a gene of interest into the human genome by the transcriptionally regulated Sleeping Beauty system. Preparation of the integration of defective lentiviral vectors, the in vitro transduction of human cells, and the molecular assay on transduced cells are reported.

Abstract

The Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon is a non-viral integrating system with proven efficacy for gene transfer and functional genomics. To optimize the SB transposon machinery, a transcriptionally regulated hyperactive transposase (SB100X) and T2-based transposon are employed. Typically, the transposase and transposon are provided transiently by plasmid transfection and SB100X expression is driven by a constitutive promoter. Here, we describe an efficient method to deliver the SB components to human cells that are resistant to several physical and chemical transfection methods, to control SB100X expression and stably integrate a gene of interest (GOI) through a "cut and paste" SB mechanism. The expression of hyperactive transposase is tightly controlled by the Tet-ON system, widely used to control gene expression since 1992. The gene of interest is flanked by inverted repeats (IR) of the T2 transposon. Both SB components are packaged in integration defective lentiviral vectors transiently produced in HEK293T cells. Human cells, either cell lines or primary cells from human tissue, are in vitro transiently transduced with viral vectors. Upon addition of doxycycline (dox, tetracycline analog) into the culture medium, a fine-tuning of transposase expression is measured and results in a long-lasting integration of the gene of interest in the genome of the treated cells. This method is efficient and applicable to the cell line (e.g., HeLa cells) and primary cells (e.g., human primary keratinocytes), and thus represents a valuable tool for genetic engineering and therapeutic gene transfer.

Introduction

The hyperactive SB100X transposase coupled to the T2-based transposon has already been used in preclinical gene therapy applications^1,2,3, genome modifications^4,5, and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) reprogramming^6,7. Typically, the SB components are transiently provided by plasmid transfection and a strong constitutive promoter drives the expression of the transposase. However, despite the improved new methods of transfection, delivery of the two-compone....

Protocol

1. Plasmids employed

NOTE: Plasmid pCCL-PGKrtTA2^S-M2 was kindly provided by Prof. Zappavigna (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy). The pCMVSB100X plasmid carrying the coding sequence of hyperactive transposase and pT2/BH transposon plasmid were kindly provided by Prof Z. Ivics (Paul Ehrlich Institute, Langen, Germany) and Prof. Z. Izvak (Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany).

1. For all cloning in Escherichia Coli (E. coli), follow the cloning strategy of choice and restriction enzyme procedure or PCR amplification of the fragment to be cloned.
   NOTE:....

Results

Using the procedure presented here, three IDLV vectors carrying the regulated SB components (SB100X, rtTA2^S-M2 and T2-GFP transposon) were packaged and used to efficiently deliver and tightly regulate the SB system in human cells. Figure 1A shows a scheme for in vitro transduction of HeLa cells, which was performed to evaluate the transcriptional regulation of SB transposase with the best dose combination of the two IDLV vectors (reported .......

Discussion

Here, we describe a widely accessible methodology to stably integrate a GOI into the genome of target cells by Sleeping Beauty-mediated transposition. Although the SB system was developed to provide a nonviral method for genome editing, efficient delivery of the integration machinery (transposase and T2 transposon) is mandatory. Therefore, to use the SB system on hardly transfectable primary cells, a viral delivery of SB components was pursued in recent years^10,

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium with 4.5g/L glucose w/o L-Glutamine	Lonza	BE12-614F	Cell culture medium.
HyClone Fetal Bovine Serum (U.S.), Characterized	GE Healthcare Life Sciences	SH30071.03	Serum used HEK293T cell culture for lentiviral particle production.
Penicillin 10.000 UI/ml Streptomycin 10.000 UI/ml	Lonza	DE17-602E	Reagents for cell culture medium.
L-Glutamine 200mM	Lonza	BE17-605E	Reagent for cell culture medium.
Sodium Chloride (NaCl)	Sigma-Aldrich	S7653	Reagent for HBS 2X preparation.
HEPES Buffer, 1M Stock in normal saline	Lonza	BE17-737E	Reagent for HBS 2X preparation.
Disodium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate (Na2HPO4·2H2O), 99.5%	Merck	106580	Reagent for HBS 2X preparation.
Hydrochloric acid - ACS reagent 37% (HCl)	Sigma-Aldrich	320331	Reagent for HBS 2X preparation.
Sterile water for injection	Fresenius Kabi	-	Reagent for HBS 2X preparation.
0.45 µm PESS filter	Whatman	10462100	Filters used to remove cell debris from viral supernatant.
Polyallomer Beckman tubes	Beckman Coulter	326823	Tubes for concentrating IDLV vectors by ultracentrifugation.
PBS-1X w/o Ca, Mg	Lonza	BE17-516F	Buffer for cell wash and lentiviral particle resuspension.
Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)	Sigma-Aldrich	A2153	(Optional) Buffer for lentiviral particle resuspension.
HIV-1 Gag p24 immunocapture kit	Perkin Elmer	NEK50001KT	Kit for IDLV particle titration.
Polybrene	Sigma-Aldrich	107689	Reagent to enhance transduction efficiency.
Trypsin (10X) 2.5% in HBSS w/o Ca, Mg	GIBCO	BE17-160E	Reagent to detach HeLa cells (stock solution, to be diluted).
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA)	100938B	AnalaR BDH	Reagent for trypsin working solution preparation.
0.5% Trypsin-EDTA, no phenol red (10X)	GIBCO	15400-054	Reagent to detach keratinocytes (stock solution, to be diluted).
Donor Bovine Serum, New Zealand Origin	GIBCO	16030-074	Serum for Swiss mouse 3T3-J2 cell culture (feeder layer).
Ham’s F12 media	GIBCO	21765	Medium for keratinocytes.
Fetal bovine serum	Lonza	DE14-801F	Serum for HeLa cell culture medium.
Fetal Bovine Serum, qualified, Australia Origin	GIBCO	10099-141	Serum for human primary keratinocyte culture medium.
Insulin from bovine pancreas	Sigma-Aldrich	I5500	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Adenine	VWR	1152-25	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Hydrocortisone	VWR	3867-1	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Cholera Toxin from Vibrio cholerae	Sigma-Aldrich	C8052	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Triiodothyronine	Sigma-Aldrich	T5516	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Human EGF	Austral Biological	GF-010-9	Reagents for keratinocyte growth.
Mouse monoclonal APC-conjugated Anti-Feeder antibody	Miltenyi Biotech	130-096-099	To label feeder layer.
RNeasy Plus Mini Kit	Qiagen	74134	RNA purification kit.
SuperScript III Reverse Transcriptase	Life Technologies	18080051	Reverse transcriptase kit.
Deoxynucleotide Mix, 10 mM (dNTP)	Sigma-Aldrich	D7295	Reagent for semi-quantitative PCR.
UltraPure DNase/RNase-Free Distilled Water	(any)	-	Reagent for semi-quantitative PCR and for qRT-PCR.
GoTaq G2 Hot Start Polymerase	Promega	M740B	Taq polymerase.
Agarose, for molecular biology	Sigma-Aldrich	A9539	Reagent for agarose gel electrophoresis.
UltraPure TBE Buffer, 10X	Invitrogen	15581028	Reagent for agarose gel electrophoresis, to be dilute (1X) in ddH2O.
Ethidium bromide	Sigma-Aldrich	E1510	Reagent for agarose gel electrophoresis.
Doxycycline	Sigma-Aldrich	D-9891	drug to induce transposase expression in HeLa cells and in keratinocytes
TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix	Applied Biosystem	4304437	TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix including primers and probe.
15mL High Clarity polypropylene Centrifuge Tube, Conical Bottom, with Dome Seal Screw Cap, Sterile	Falcon Corning	352096	Tubes for cell collection and vector dilution preparation.
150 mm TC-Treated Cell Culture Dish with 20 mm Grid, Sterile	Falcon Corning	353025	Cell culture dish for viral production.
6 Well Clear Flat Bottom TC-Treated Multiwell Cell Culture Plate, with Lid, Individually Wrapped, Sterile	Falcon Corning	353046	Cell culture plate for HeLa and human primary keratinocyte transduction.
Safe-Lock microcentrifuge tubes, volume 1.5 mL	Eppendorf	0030 120.086	Tubes for dilution preparation.
Safe-Lock microcentrifuge tubes, volume 2 mL	Eppendorf	0030 120.094	Tubes for dilution preparation.
0.2ml PCR Tubes with flat caps, RNase, DNase, DNA and PCR Inhibitor free	(any)	-	Tubes for semi-quantitative PCR.
MicroAmp Fast Optical 96-Well Reaction Plate with Barcode, 0.1 mL	Applied Biosystem	4346906	96-well for qRT-PCR.
5mL Round Bottom Polystyrene Tube, without Cap	BD Falcon	352052	Tubes for flow cytometry acquisition.
Disposable Serological Pipets, Polystyrene, Individually Wrapped, Sterile (different volumes)	(any)	-	Pipettes for sterile tissue culture applications.
Filter Tips, Sterile, and RNase, DNase, DNA and Pyrogen free (different volumes)	(any)	-	Filter tips for sterile tissue colture and molecular biology applications.
pH meter	(any)	-	Equipment for measurement of HBS 2X pH.
PCR Thermal cycler	(any)	-	Equipment for semi-quantitative PCR.
Agarose gel electrophoresis equipment	(any)	-	Equipment for agarose gel electrophoresis of semi-quantitative PCR.
BD FACS Canto II 2LSR 4/2	BD	-	Flow cytometer.
7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR system	Applied Biosystem	7900HT	Equipment for qRT-PCR.
Benchtop centrifuges for efficient sample processing in cell culture applications, refrigerated, with microplate buckets.	(any)	-	Centrifuge for cell culture processing and spinoculation.
Optima L-90K Ultracentrifuge equipped with SW32TI rotor	Beckman Coulter	-	Ultracentrifuge for lentiviral particle production.
Equipment for cell culture and molecular biology laboratory (e.g., Class II laminar flow hood designed for work involving BSL2 materials, cell culture incubator,refrigerators and freezers (+4 °C, -20 °C, -80 °C), micropipettes and pipet-aid).
Protective laboratory coats, gloves, face protection in accordance with Institute rules and regulations, in particular for lentiviral particle production and transduction.