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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2024, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 937-946.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.24-171

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Dual-localization signals enhance mitochondrial targeted presentation of engineered proteins

Bingqian Zhou1(), Shangpu Li1, Xu Wang1, Xiangyu Meng1, Jingrong Deng1, Jinliang Xing2(), Jiangang Wang1, Kun Xu1()   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 71200, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Tumour Biology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710000, China
  • Received:2024-06-12 Revised:2024-09-01 Online:2024-11-20 Published:2024-09-04
  • Contact: Jinliang Xing, Kun Xu E-mail:2770998747@qq.com;xingjl@fmmu.edu.cn;xukun@nwafu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Biological Breeding-Major Projects(2023ZD04074);Biological Breeding-Major Projects(2023ZD04051);Open Fund Project from State Key Laboratory of Tumor Biology-China(CBSKL2022ZDKF11)

Abstract:

Effective delivery of engineered proteins into mitochondria is of great significance for developing efficient mitochondrial DNA editing tools and realizing accurate treatment of mitochondrial diseases. Here, the candidate genes, eGFP and Cas9, were engineered with different mitochondrial localization signal (MLS) sequences introduced at their up- or/and down-streams. The corresponding expression vectors for the engineered proteins were constructed respectively, and HEK293T cells were transfected with these vectors. The fluorescence colocalization and Western blotting assays were used to analyze the mitochondrial targeting presentation effect of different engineered proteins. The results demonstrated that the daul-MLS modification of the eGFP and Cas9 proteins significantly improved the efficiency of mitochondrial targeted presentation, compared with the engineered proteins with single MLS added. Hence, it is speculated that dual MLS strategy can enhance the mitochondrial targeting of engineered proteins, which lays a theoretical foundation for the future development of efficient mitochondrial DNA editing tools.

Key words: mitochondrial diseases, mtDNA editing, protein engineering, mitochondrial localization signal, mitochondrial targeting