N. A. Odintsova*, K. V. Kiselev**, V. P. Bulgakov***, E. A. Koltsova**** and K. V. Yakovlev**

* Institute of Marine Biology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
ul. Pal’chevskoro 17, Vladivostok, 690041 Russia
** Far Eastern State University, ul. Sukhanova 8, Vladivostok, 690050 Russia
*** Institute of Biology and Pedology, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, prosp. 100-letiya Vladivostoka 159, Vladivostok, 690022 Russia
**** Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, prosp. 100-letiya Vladivostoka 159, Vladivostok, 690022 Russia

Abstract—In order to solve many tasks of biotechnology, constant lines of the cells of marine invertebrates with a high growth potential are required, which are absent at present. We used the universal activator of tran-scription gal4 to change the degree of expression of genes of growth factors in embryonic sea urchin cells and, thereby, increase their proliferative activity. The fertilized sea urchin eggs and dissociated embryonic cells at the blastula stage were treated with plasmids containing both the functional gene gal4 and the gene devoid of the regions encoding the activator domain. The transfection of embryonic sea urchin eggs with the functional gene led to cell dedifferentiation and formation of tumor-like structures in the embryos or increased number of embryonic cells in culture. In the cells obtained from the transfected embryos, the pigments were found within two months of cultivation, whose absorption spectrum coincided with that of echinochrome.

Key words: sea urchin, embryos, activator of transcription, cell culture, echinochrome.

** - Kiselev Konstantin, kkv5@mail.ru