ABSTRACT. Preliminary studies have suggested that a characteristic element of the matrix attachment region (MAR) in human interferon-β mediates the adhesion of vectors to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. In this study, we investigated if vector adhesion increased nerve growth factor (NGF) expression in CHO cells. The MAR characteristic element sequence of human interferon-β was inserted into the multiple-cloning site of the pEGFP-C1 vector. The target NGF gene was inserted upstream of the MAR characteristic element sequence to construct the MAR/ NGF expression vector. The recombinant plasmid was transfected into CHO cells and stable monoclonal cells were selected using G418. NGF mRNA and protein expression was detected by reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Plasmid reduction experiments were used to determine the state of transfected plasmid in mammalian cells. 9191-9199 (2015) into the vector increased NGF expression levels in CHO cells (1.93-fold) compared to the control. The recombinant plasmid expressing the MAR sequence was digested into a linear space vector. The inserted MAR and NGF sequences were consistent with those inserted into the plasmid before recombination. Therefore, we concluded that the MAR characteristic element mediates vector adhesion to CHO cells and enhances the stability and efficiency of the target gene expression.

ABSTRACT. We investigated the effects of different directions of insertion of matrix attachment region (MAR) sequences on transgenic expression in stably transformed Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The MAR sequences were inserted in forward or reverse directions into the expression vectors, and transfected into CHO cells. The expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene and the relative copy numbers of the CAT gene were analyzed. The CAT gene expression levels in the vector with the MAR sequence inserted in the forward or reverse directions increased compared with expression without the MAR sequence. The relative copy numbers of the CAT gene with MAR sequenced vectors inserted in the reverse and forward directions were lower, than in the control group. The direction of insertion of MAR sequences had no significant effect on expression levels. The expression levels were not proportional to the copy numbers