PiggyBac Transposition System

PiggyBac (PB) transposition, a mobile genetic element system, efficiently transposes between vectors and chromosomes by a "cut and paste" mechanism, which has been used for genetic manipulation in animal models as well as cell lines. Based on the powerful PB transposition system, Creative Biolabs is very honored to provide a full range of gene engineering services to help you with the research of immunotherapy, gene therapy, and regenerative medicine.

Introduction of PB Transposition System

PB transposon was originally identified from the genome of the cabbage looper moth, Trichoplusia ni, in the 1980s. Because of its high activity after being introduced into mammalian genomes, it has become an efficient gene transfer tool in genetic engineering research. PB transposon system is composed of three elements, a transposable element, a transposase, and a gene of interest. PB transposase can recognize inverted terminal repeat sequences (ITRs) located on both ends of the transposon vector. It efficiently integrates the genes of interest between the two ITRs in the PB vector into target genomes. PB is initially used as gene delivery tool in insects. Recently, studies have reported that PB has the highest transposition rates and cargo capacities in mammalian cell lines and mouse germline cells.

Fig. 1 PB transposon system by a 'cut-and-paste' mechanism.¹

Applications

• Analysis of Gene Function

PB transposition system provides an efficient research tool for large scale research on gene function. PB transposition integrates multiple genes for efficient transposition in human and mouse cell lines as well as in mice and is successfully used for genetic analysis. Researchers have determined the function of 70 mouse genes by generating an efficient PB transposition system in mice. Besides, the mutation of PB can also be tracked by luciferase, which enables researchers to identify the PB insertional easily.

• Screening Cancer Genes

As a better tool for genetic screening, PB has several unique advantages, such as a weak tendency of local jumping and no undesirable footprint mutation left after transposition. Potential oncogene or tumor suppress genes can be inserted into mice genome through the PB transposon system, which is used to reveal the function of genes in the cancer-causing mechanism. Furthermore, PB is also applied for genome-wide mutagenesis.

• Genetic Therapy

PB transposition system provides an efficient gene delivery tool for introducing genetic information into eukaryotic genomes. Compared to Sleeping Beauty, Tol2, and Mos1, PB is a flexible and highly active transposon in mammalian cells. Compared to common viral vectors, PB is relatively safe and large cargo. PB has been reported as the most promising transposon-based vector system for achieving site-specific therapeutic gene targeting due to the flexibility of its transposase.

Advantages

• High-efficiency transposition
• Large cargo
• Footprint-free excision
• Single copy insertion
• Precise excision and insertion
• Steady long-term expression
• Tracking the target gene in vivo by a noninvasive mark
• Easy to determine the integration site

Employing the PB transposition system, multiple genes can efficiently transpose in mammalian cells. PB transposition system provides an effective gene transfection tool that is widely used in genetic manipulation in animal models and cell lines. If you are interested in PB transposition system for mRNA transfection, please feel free to contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Zhao, Shuang, et al. "PiggyBac transposon vectors: the tools of the human gene encoding." Translational lung cancer research 5.1 (2016): 120.