Abstract
In order to solve many tasks of biotechnology, constant lines of the cells of marine invertebrates with a high growth potential are required, which are absent at present. We used the universal activator of transcription gal4 to change the degree of expression of genes of growth factors in embryonic sea urchin cells and, thereby, increase their proliferative activity. The fertilized sea urchin eggs and dissociated embryonic cells at the blastula stage were treated with plasmids containing both the functional gene gal4 and the gene devoid of the regions encoding the activator domain. The transfection of embryonic sea urchin eggs with the functional gene led to cell dedifferentiation and formation of tumor-like structures in the embryos or increased number of embryonic cells in culture. In the cells obtained from the transfected embryos, the pigments were found within two months of cultivation, whose absorption spectrum coincided with that of echinochrome.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bulgakov, V.P., Odintsova, N.A., Plotnikov, S.V., et al., Gal4 Gene-Dependent Alterations of Embryo Development and Cell Growth in a Primary Culture of the Sea Urchins, Marine Biotech., 2002, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 480-486.
Delgadillo-Reynoso, M.G., Rollo, D.R., Hursh, D.A., et al., Structural Analysis of the UEGF Gene in the Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus Reveals More Similarity to Vertebrate Than to Invertebrate Genes with EGF-like Repeats, J. Mol. Evol., 1989, vol. 29, pp. 314-327.
Dixon, D.R., Methods for Assessing the Effects of Chemicals on Reproductive Function in Marine Molluscs, Methods for Assessing the Effects of Chemicals on Reproductive Functions, Vouk, V.B. and Sheehan, P.J., Eds., New York: Springer, 1983, pp. 439-457.
Elyakov, G.B., Fedoreev, S.A., Maksimov, O.B., et al., Medicinal Drug “Histochrome” for Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases of Eye Retina and Cornea: Patent no. 2134107, Byull. Izobret., 1999a, no. 22, p. 280.
Elyakov, G.B., Fedoreev, S.A., Maksimov, O.B., et al., Medicinal Drug “Histochrome” for Treatment of Acute Cardiac Infarction and Cardiac Ischemia: Patent no. 2137472, Byull. Izobret., 1999b, no. 22, p. 283.
Fedoreyev, S.A., Mischenko, N.P., Koltsova, E.A., et al., A New Drug, Histochrome, from the Sea Urchin, Abstr. 5th Intern. Marine Biotech. Conf., Townsville, Australia: 29 Sept.-4 Oct. 2000, p. 53.
Giniger, E., Varnum, S.M., and Ptashne, M., Specific DNA Binding of GAL4, a Positive Regulatory Protein of Yeast, Cell (Cambridge, Mass.), 1985, vol. 40, pp. 767-774.
Koltsova, E.A., Boguslavskaya, L.V., and Maximov, O.B., On the Functions of Quinonoid Pigments Production in Sea Urchin Embryos, Int. J. Invertebr. Repr., 1981, vol. 4, pp. 17-28.
Kominami, T. and Takata, H., Process of Pigment Cell Specification in the Sand Dollar, Scaphechinus mirabilis, Devel. Growth Differ., 2002, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 113-125.
Ma, J. and Ptashne, M., A New Class of Yeast Transcriptional Activators, Cell (Cambridge, Mass.), 1987, vol. 51, pp. 113-119.
Ma, J., Przibilla, E., Hu, J., et al., Yeast Activators Stimulate Plant Gene Expression, Nature (London), 1988, vol. 334, pp. 631-633.
Maniatis, T., Frich, E., and Sambruk, J., Metody geneticheskoi inzhenerii. Molekulyarnoe klonirovanie (Methods of genetic Engineering. Molecular Cloning), Moscow: Mir, 1982.
Nishibori, K., Studies on Pigments of Marine Animals. III. Echinochrome a From the Spine of Sand-Dollar Echinorachnius mirabilis, Bull. Soc. Sci. Fish., 1957, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 708-711.
Odintsova, N.A. and Khomenko, A.V., Primary Cell Culture From Embryos of the Japanese Scallop Mizuchopecten yessoensis (Bivalvia), Cytotechnology, 1991, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 49-54.
Odintsova, N.A., Ermak, A.V., and Tsal, L.G., Substrate Selection for Long-Term Cultivation of Marine Invertebrate Cells, Comp. Bioch. Physiol., 1994, vol. 107, pp. 613-619.
Odintsova, N.A., Belogortseva, N.I., Ermak, A.V., et al., Adhesive and Growth Properties of Lectin from the Ascidian Didemnum ternatanum on Cultivated Marine Invertebrate Cells, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1999, vol. 1448, pp. 381-389.
Ptashne, M. and Gann, A., Activators and Targets, Nature (London), 1990, vol. 346, pp. 329-331.
Yuh, C.-H., Bolouri, H., and Davidson, E.H., Genomic Cis-Regulatory Logic: Experimental and Computational Analysis of a Sea Urchin Gene, Science, 1998, vol. 279, pp. 1896-1902.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Odintsova, N.A., Kiselev, K.V., Bulgakov, V.P. et al. Influence of the Activator of Transcription gal4 on Growth and Development of Embryos and Embryonic Cells in Primary Cultures of Sand Dollar. Russian Journal of Developmental Biology 34, 217–222 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024992415489
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024992415489