Expression of Recombinant Human Octamer-Binding Transcription Factor 4 in Rice Suspension Cells

• Main Authors: Li-Fen Huang, Desyanti Saulina Sinaga, Chia-Chun Tan, Shu-Ju Micky Hsieh, Chi-Hung Huang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: <i>αAmy3</i> promoter; recombinant human embryonic transcription factor; human Oct4; rice cell suspension culture system
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/3/1409

The rice cell suspension culture system is a good way to produce recombinant human proteins, owing to its high biosafety and low production cost. Human Octamer-binding Transcription Factor 4 (Oct4) is a fundamental transcription factor responsible for maintaining human pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Recombinant Oct4 protein has been used to induce pluripotent stem cells. In this study, recombinant Oct4 proteins are produced via a sugar starvation-inducible <i>αAmy3</i>/<i>RAmy3D</i> promoter–signal peptide-based rice recombinant protein expression system. <i>Oct4</i> mRNAs accumulate in the transgenic rice suspension cells under sugar starvation. The Oct4 recombinant protein is detected in the transgenic rice suspension cells, and its highest yield is approximately 0.41% of total cellular soluble proteins after one day of sugar starvation. The rice cell-synthesized recombinant human Oct4 protein show DNA-binding activity in vitro, which implies that the protein structure is correct for enabling specific binding to the target DNA motif.