V.P. Bulgakov, N.A. Odintsova, S.V. Plotnikov, K.V. Kiselev, E. V. Zacharov and Yu.N. Zhuravlev

Abstract: Primary cell cultures from sea urchins have a low proliferative level that prevents the establishment of their long-term cultures. To increase expression levels of the cell growth regulatory genes of sea urchins and thus achieve enhanced cell growth, we used the transcriptional activator Gal4 gene, found earlier in yeast. Sea urchin embryos were treated with plasmid DNA containing the Gal4 gene. Expression of the transgene was confirmed by RT-PCR. When the fully functional gene was used, embryos effectively formed teratoma-like structures after 50-55 h of cultivation. In contrast, the Gal4 gene, devoid of acidic activating regions, possessed little activity as a teratogen. The Gal4-treated cells in blastula-derived culture showed higher DNA synthesis and higher proliferative activity compared to control cells. We suggest that formation of the teratoma-like structures in embryos, the activation of DNA synthesis and significant increase of cell number in embryo-derived cell cultures could be attributed to Gal4 gene action.