Dihydrofolate reductase, or DHFR, is an enzyme that reduces dihydrofolic acid to tetrahydrofolic acid, using NADPH as an electron donor, which can be converted to the kinds of tetrahydrofolate cofactors used in 1-carbon transfer chemistry. In humans, the DHFR enzyme is encoded by the DHFR gene. It is found in the q14.1 region of chromosome 5.
Protein production is the biotechnological process of generating a specific protein. It is typically achieved by the manipulation of gene expression in an organism such that it expresses large amounts of a recombinant gene. This includes the transcription of the recombinant DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA), the translation of mRNA into polypeptide chains, which are ultimately folded into functional proteins and may be targeted to specific subcellular or extracellular locations.
An expression vector, otherwise known as an expression construct, is usually a plasmid or virus designed for gene expression in cells. The vector is used to introduce a specific gene into a target cell, and can commandeer the cell's mechanism for protein synthesis to produce the protein encoded by the gene. Expression vectors are the basic tools in biotechnology for the production of proteins.
Human embryonic kidney 293 cells, also often referred to as HEK 293, HEK-293, 293 cells, are an immortalised cell line derived from HEK cells isolated from a female fetus in the 1970s.
Komagataella is a methylotrophic yeast within the order Saccharomycetales. It was found in the 1960s as Pichia pastoris, with its feature of using methanol as a source of carbon and energy. In 1995, P. pastoris was reassigned into the sole representative of genus Komagataella, becoming Komagataella phaffii. Later studies have further distinguished new species in this genus, resulting in a total of 7 recognized species. It is not uncommon to see the old name still in use in the context of protein production, as of 2023; in less formal use, the yeast may confusingly be referred to as pichia.
Theodore Thomas Puck was an American geneticist born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Chicago public schools and obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. His PhD work was on the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom and his doctoral adviser was James Franck. During WW II Puck stayed at the University of Chicago. There he worked in the laboratory of Oswald H. Robertson on the study of how bacteria and viruses can spread through the air and on dust particles. After a postdoc position in the laboratory of Renato Dulbecco, Puck was recruited in 1948 to establish and chair the University of Colorado Medical School's department of biophysics. He retired from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1995 as professor emeritus, but continued to do laboratory work there until a few weeks before his death.
Vero cells are a lineage of cells used in cell cultures. The 'Vero' lineage was isolated from kidney epithelial cells extracted from an African green monkey. The lineage was developed on 27 March 1962 by Yasumura and Kawakita at the Chiba University in Chiba, Japan. The original cell line was named Vero after an abbreviation of verdareno, which means 'green kidney' in Esperanto, while vero itself means 'truth' in Esperanto.
COS are fibroblast-like cell lines derived from monkey kidney tissue. COS cells are obtained by immortalizing CV-1 cells with a version of the SV40 virus that can produce large T antigen but has a defect in genomic replication. The CV-1 cell line in turn was derived from the kidney of the African green monkey.
Biotechnology is the use of living organisms to develop useful products. Biotechnology is often used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Notable examples include the use of bacteria to produce things such as insulin or human growth hormone. Other examples include the use of transgenic pigs for the creation of hemoglobin in use of humans.
Chloride intracellular channel protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CLIC1 gene.
40S ribosomal protein S14 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RPS14 gene.
Adenosine kinase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ADK gene.
Replication initiator 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the REPIN1 gene. The protein helps enable RNA binding activity as a replication initiation-region protein. The make up of REPIN 1 include three zinc finger hand clusters that organize polydactyl zinc finger proteins containing 15 zinc finger DNA- binding motifs. It has also been predicted to help in regulation of transcription via RNA polymerase II with it being located in the nucleoplasm. Expression of this protein has been seen in the colon, spleen, kidney, and 23 other tissues within the human body throughout.
A subunit vaccine is a vaccine that contains purified parts of the pathogen that are antigenic, or necessary to elicit a protective immune response. Subunit vaccine can be made from dissembled viral particles in cell culture or recombinant DNA expression, in which case it is a recombinant subunit vaccine.
High Five (BTI-Tn-5B1-4) is an insect cell line that originated from the ovarian cells of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni. It was developed by the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.
Schneider 2 cells, usually abbreviated as S2 cells, are one of the most commonly used Drosophila melanogaster cell lines. S2 cells were derived from a primary culture of late stage Drosophila melanogaster embryos by Dr. Imogene Schneider, likely from a macrophage-like lineage.
NS0 cells are a model cell line derived from the nonsecreting murine myeloma used in biomedical research and commercially in the production of therapeutic proteins. The cell line is a cholesterol-dependent cell line that was generated from a subline of NSI/1 which produced only the light chain but no heavy chain.
Transient expression, more frequently referred to "transient gene expression", is the temporary expression of genes that are expressed for a short time after nucleic acid, most frequently plasmid DNA encoding an expression cassette, has been introduced into eukaryotic cells with a chemical delivery agent like calcium phosphate (CaPi) or polyethyleneimine (PEI). However, unlike "stable expression," the foreign DNA does not fuse with the host cell DNA, resulting in the inevitable loss of the vector after several cell replication cycles. The majority of transient gene expressions are done with cultivated animal cells. The technique is also used in plant cells; however, the transfer of nucleic acids into these cells requires different methods than those with animal cells. In both plants and animals, transient expression should result in a time-limited use of transferred nucleic acids, since any long-term expression would be called "stable expression."
June Biedler was an American scientist primarily known for her discovery of proteins that lead to resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Her work has been crucial for an understanding of both the development of drug resistance and also for strategies to circumvent such resistance. In addition, Biedler made important contributions to an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of neuroblastoma development, particularly of the role of the N-myc oncogene in the genesis of neuroblastoma
Cell engineering is the purposeful process of adding, deleting, or modifying genetic sequences in living cells to achieve biological engineering goals such as altering cell production, changing cell growth and proliferation requirements, adding or removing cell functions, and many more. Cell engineering often makes use of DNA technology to achieve these modifications as well as closely related tissue engineering methods. Cell engineering can be characterized as an intermediary level in the increasingly specific disciplines of biological engineering which includes organ engineering, tissue engineering, protein engineering, and genetic engineering.
