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Transposon-mediated genome manipulation in vertebrates

Nature Methods volume 6, pages 415–422 (2009)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 July 2009

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Abstract

Transposable elements are DNA segments with the unique ability to move about in the genome. This inherent feature can be exploited to harness these elements as gene vectors for genome manipulation. Transposon-based genetic strategies have been established in vertebrate species over the last decade, and current progress in this field suggests that transposable elements will serve as indispensable tools. In particular, transposons can be applied as vectors for somatic and germline transgenesis, and as insertional mutagens in both loss-of-function and gain-of-function forward mutagenesis screens. In addition, transposons will gain importance in future cell-based clinical applications, including nonviral gene transfer into stem cells and the rapidly developing field of induced pluripotent stem cells. Here we provide an overview of transposon-based methods used in vertebrate model organisms with an emphasis on the mouse system and highlight the most important considerations concerning genetic applications of the transposon systems.

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Figure 1: Mechanism of transposition and general organization of class I and class II transposable elements.
Figure 2: Summary of the basic gene trapping strategies.
Figure 3: Transposon delivery methods in embryonic stem cells.
Figure 4: In vivo germline mutagenesis of the mouse with transposable elements.

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  • 11 June 2009

    NOTE: In the version of this article initially published, a part of Figure 1b was incorrectly labeled. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany

    Zoltán Ivics, Lajos Mátés & Zsuzsanna Izsvák

  2. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK

    Meng Amy Li & Allan Bradley

  3. High Throughput Biology Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Jef D Boeke

  4. Mount Sinai Hospital, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Canada

    Andras Nagy

  5. Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Andras Nagy

  6. Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary

    Zsuzsanna Izsvák

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  1. Zoltán Ivics
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Correspondence to Zoltán Ivics.

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Ivics, Z., Li, M., Mátés, L. et al. Transposon-mediated genome manipulation in vertebrates. Nat Methods 6, 415–422 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1332

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