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ABSTRACT: Background
Transient expression of proteins in mammalian cells is a key technique for many functional and structural studies of human and higher eukaryotic genes as well as for the production of recombinant protein therapeutics. Maximizing the expression efficiency to achieve a higher expression yield is desirable and may be even critical when, for instance, an expressed protein must be characterized at the single-cell level.New methods
Our goal was to develop a simple method by which protein expression yield in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells could be enhanced with a brief treatment of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution.Results
By expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter protein using the calcium phosphate transfection method and imaging a large population of cells, we found that a 5-min exposure of 10 % DMSO to HEK-293 cells, 4 h after transfection of the protein of interest, leads to ∼1.6-fold increase in the expression yield without causing any appreciable cytotoxicity. By expressing an α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and separately a kainate receptor in HEK-293 cells and measuring glutamate-induced whole-cell current response, we also found that such a brief DMSO treatment did not affect channel activity.Conclusion
This method is simple, efficient and inexpensive to use for enhancing transient transfection yield in HEK-293 cells.
SUBMITTER: Lynch J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9308467 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Lynch Janet J Chung JiWoo J Huang Zhen Z Pierce Vincen V Saunders Noah S NS Niu Li L
Journal of neuroscience methods 20201224
<h4>Background</h4>Transient expression of proteins in mammalian cells is a key technique for many functional and structural studies of human and higher eukaryotic genes as well as for the production of recombinant protein therapeutics. Maximizing the expression efficiency to achieve a higher expression yield is desirable and may be even critical when, for instance, an expressed protein must be characterized at the single-cell level.<h4>New methods</h4>Our goal was to develop a simple method by ...[more]