Application of the Sleeping Beauty transposon system to avian cells.

We have for the first time assessed the ability of the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system to enhance transgenesis in chicken and turkey cells. The efficiency of transgenesis with a transposon encoding an antibiotic resistance gene was dramatically enhanced 15- to 35-fold when transposase was supplied by co-transfection of immortalized chicken and turkey cells with a construct encoding SB. In contrast, transgenesis of primary chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells was not significantly increased by providing transposase, suggesting that the benefits of transposon-transgenesis in primary avian cells will require the application of more efficient transfection methods, further enhanced SB transposase or an alternative transposon system.