Nonhomologous end-joining ligation transfers DNA regulatory elements between cointroduced plasmids
Abstract
Cointroduction of plasmids into mammalian cells is commonly used to investigate transcription factor regulation of reporter genes or to normalize transfection efficiency. We report here that cotransfected DNA molecules commonly transfer enhancer elements from one plasmid to another. Using separate Renilla or Firefly luciferase reporters, we found that an estrogen response element (ERE) originally linked to one of the reporters stimulated expression of the non-ERE-containing reporter. Similar enhancer transfer was seen with the cytomegalovirus enhancer. This enhancer transfer effect was not seen when cells were transfected separately with the reporters and the extracts were then combined before luciferase assays. The degree of enhancer transfer increased with transfected plasmid concentration and was greater when linearized rather than circular plasmid DNA was used. We hypothesized that double-strand breaks and heteroligation of cointroduced DNA molecules mediated the transfer of regulatory elements from one molecule to another. PCR of transfected plasmid DNA confirmed nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) ligation of DNA fragments originally present in separate plasmids. The NHEJ reaction was enhanced by UV light treatment to introd...Continue Reading
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