POST-TRANSCRIPTIONAL GENE REGULATION BY SELENIUM

摘要

Methods of controlling the in vivo and in vitro expression of a heterologous protein by transfecting a cell with a first nucleic acid encoding the heterologous polypeptide, wherein at least one codon of mRNA transcribed from the first nucleic acid is replaced by the codon UGA, and a second nucleic acid operably linked to the first nucleic acid, the second nucleic acid directing the translation of the UGA codon as selenocysteine only when the cell can obtain selenium from the medium in which it is grown; and growing the cell under conditions in which the production of the polypeptide is controlled by the level of selenium available to the cell.