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Transgenic Mice Expressing Yeast CUP1 Exhibit Increased Copper Utilization from Feeds
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 9, p e107810 (2014)
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2014.
-
Abstract
- Copper is required for structural and catalytic properties of a variety of enzymes participating in many vital biological processes for growth and development. Feeds provide most of the copper as an essential micronutrient consumed by animals, but inorganic copper could not be utilized effectively. In the present study, we aimed to develop transgenic mouse models to test if copper utilization will be increased by providing the animals with an exogenous gene for generation of copper chelatin in saliva. Considering that the S. cerevisiae CUP1 gene encodes a Cys-rich protein that can bind copper as specifically as copper chelatin in yeast, we therefore constructed a transgene plasmid containing the CUP1 gene regulated for specific expression in the salivary glands by a promoter of gene coding pig parotid secretory protein. Transgenic CUP1 was highly expressed in the parotid and submandibular salivary glands and secreted in saliva as a 9-kDa copper-chelating protein. Expression of salivary copper-chelating proteins reduced fecal copper contents by 21.61% and increased body-weight by 12.97%, suggesting that chelating proteins improve the utilization and absorbed efficacy of copper. No negative effects on the health of the transgenic mice were found by blood biochemistry and histology analysis. These results demonstrate that the introduction of the salivary CUP1 transgene into animals offers a possible approach to increase the utilization efficiency of copper and decrease the fecal copper contents.
- Subjects :
- Genetically modified mouse
Saliva
Transgene
Blotting, Western
lcsh:Medicine
chemistry.chemical_element
Mice, Transgenic
Biology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Salivary Glands
Molecular Genetics
Mice
Animals
Metallothionein
lcsh:Science
Molecular Biology
Gene
DNA Primers
Nutrition
chemistry.chemical_classification
Multidisciplinary
Base Sequence
lcsh:R
Body Weight
Biology and Life Sciences
Animal Feed
Copper
Yeast
Diet
Enzyme
chemistry
Biochemistry
Food
lcsh:Q
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....00ddd71257b7f05ade60aec8b53bb167