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First Knockdown Gene Expression in Bat (Hipposideros armiger) Brain Mediated by Lentivirus

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Abstract

Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) is a potent experimental tool for investigating gene functions in vitro and in vivo. It has advantages that transgenic technology lacks. However, in vivo applications are difficult to apply in the central nervous system of non-model organisms due to the lack of a standard brain atlas and genetic information. Here, we report the development of an in vivo gene delivery system used in bat brain tissue for the first time, based on lentivirus (LV) vectors expressing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting Hipposideros armiger forkhead box P2 (FoxP2). In vitro transfection into HEK 293T cell with the vector bearing the cassettes encoding FoxP2 shRNA verified the knockdown efficiency. Pseudovirus particles were administered via stereotactic intracerebral microinjection into the anterior cingulate cortex of H. armiger. FoxP2 is of major interest because of its role in sensorimotor coordination and probably in echolocation. Subsequent in situ hybridization validated the in vivo silencing of the target gene. This report demonstrates that LV-mediated expression of RNAi could achieve effective gene silencing in bats, a non-model organism, and will assist in elucidating the functions of bat genes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Chia-Yi Hou from Ecohealth Alliance for improving the English writing of the original manuscript. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31101641).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Institute for Advanced Studies in Multidisciplinary Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Qi Chen, Tengteng Zhu, Junpeng Zhang & Yi Sun

  2. Center for Circadian Clocks, Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Yi Sun

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Gareth Jones

Authors
  1. Qi Chen
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  2. Tengteng Zhu
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  3. Gareth Jones
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  4. Junpeng Zhang
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  5. Yi Sun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Sun.

Additional information

Qi Chen and Tengteng Zhu contributed equally to this study.

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Chen, Q., Zhu, T., Jones, G. et al. First Knockdown Gene Expression in Bat (Hipposideros armiger) Brain Mediated by Lentivirus. Mol Biotechnol 54, 564–571 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-012-9596-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-012-9596-6

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