Jpn. J. Protozool. Vol. 41, No. 2. (2008)

159

Original

Random insertion of injected DNA molecules into the macronuclear
chromosome of Paramecium caudatum
Yasuhiro Takenaka1,2, Akira Yanagi3, Hiromi Masuda4, Youji Mitsui5, Hiroshi
Mizuno1 and Nobuyuki Haga3,*
1

Department of Biochemistry, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3058602, Japan, 2Health Technology Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan, 3Department of Biotechnology,
Ishinomaki Senshu University, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-8580, Japan, 4VALWAY Technology
Center, NEC Soft, Ltd., 1-18-7, Koto-ku, Tokyo 136-8627, Japan, 5Department of Pharmaceutical
Technology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kagawa Campus, Tokushima Bunri University,
Kagawa 769-2193, Japan
Key words: genome integration, transformation, microinjection, plasmid rescue, telomere

SUMMARY
Linear DNA molecules injected into themacronucleus of Paramecium caudatum became
integrated into genomic DNA. The plasmid harboring fusion gene of P. caudatum histone H2Band a yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) named
PcVenus was linearized and microinjected into
the macronucleus of P. caudatum. Southern blotsof total cellular DNA from three fluorescence-*Corresponding author
Tel: +81-225-22-7716
Fax: +81-225-22-7746
E-mail: haga@isenshu-u.ac.jp
Received: 1 May 2008; Accepted: 31 July 2008.
Note: The sequences described herein have been deposited in
the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases (accession numbers
AB195237 and AB195239).

positive transformant clones probed with the
PcVenus sequence revealed that the injected DNA
had become randomly inserted into the chromosome. Free linear monomers or multimers of injected DNA molecules as seen in P. primaurelia
and P. tetraurelia were not evident even though theplasmid possessed extant telomeric repeats at its
both extremities. We also cloned fragments containing the integration site of genomic DNA fromtransformant cells by plasmid rescue. Sequence
analysis of the flanking DNA confirmed random
insertion of the linear plasmid into the chromosomal DNA with extant telomere repeats at the fusion
junction. Therefore, P. caudatum maintains introduced DNA in a unique manner by nonhomologous or illegitimate, rather than homologous recombination.

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Random insertion of DNA into the Paramecium chromosome

INTRODUCTION
The ciliated protozoan, Paramecium caudatum, possesses both a micronucleus and a macronucleus. The micronucleus is considered to have agerminal function because it divides mitotically andundergoes meiosis during conjugation. On the other
hand, the macronucleus divides amitotically and istranscriptionally active, implying a somatic function. The macronucleus is highly polygenomic (n =3,400) (Soldo et al., 1981) and is formed de novo
after meiotic events by excising internal eliminatedsequences (IESs) from micronuclear DNA andligating fragmented DNA. Exogenous DNA molecules microinjected into the macronucleus ofParamecium replicated and were maintained in themacronucleus. Both the integration of injected
DNA into host chromosomal DNA and independent
replication of injected DNA as an episome in
Paramecium have been reported. Injected DNA
molecules are randomly inserted into the chromosomal DNA of P. primaurelia and P. tetraurelia(Katinka and Bourgain, 1992; Haynes et al., 1995),
both of which can also harbor episomal forms of
microinjected plasmid DNAs that autonomously
replicate in the macronucleus (Godiska et al., 1987;
Gilley et al., 1988; Bourgain and Katinka, 1991).
However, the fate of DNA molecules microinjected
into P. caudatum remained to be determined.
We constructed the expression vector, pTubtel3 (pTT3), that constitutively expresses a target
protein in P. caudatum (Takenaka et al., 2002). We
then created a codon-optimized and a superenhanced yellow fluorescent protein, PcVenus, byaltering 8 amino acid residues of codon-optimized
green fluorescent protein (GFP). PcVenus was
expressed as a fusion protein with P. caudatum
histone H2B to localize it in macro- and micronuclei (Takenaka et al., 2007). The stable expressionof the histone H2B-PcVenus in P. caudatum wasmonitored for more than 300 successive divisionsof each transformant clone.
We describe herein how the injected expression

vector, pTT3 H2B-PcVenus, was maintained in themacronucleus of P. caudatum. Genomic Southernblots of 3 transformant clones that underwent 50100 fissions after injection revealed that the injected DNA had randomly inserted into the chromosome, and free linear monomers or multimers of
the injected DNA molecules were undetectable. We
also confirmed the non-homologous and random
insertion of injected DNA by sequencing insertion
boundaries.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Cell culture and microinjection
Strain KoscA4 [the trichocyst non-discharge,
syngen 3 (O-type) mutant (tnd2/tnd2)] was produced by cross breeding (A. Yanagi, unpublisheddata). The culture medium and conditions were as
described (Takenaka et al., 2002). The construction
and microinjection of the P. caudatum histone H2B-PcVenus expression vector, pTT3 H2B-PcVenus,
have been described elsewhere (Takenaka et al.,2007). Plasmid DNA (100 µg) was linearized by
Bam HI digestion, purified by phenol/chloroform
extraction, precipitated with isopropanol, and resuspended in sterile distilled water at a final concentration of 1 µg/µl. Approximately 1.5x105 copies in 10 pl of linearized plasmid DNA weremicroinjected into the macronucleus of KoscA4
cells at the stationary phase. Cells that remained
viable after microinjection (about 30%) were isolated into 100 µl of culture medium in depression
slides.
Southern blotting
Genomic DNA (0.8-1.4 µg) was prepared using a DNeasy Tissue Kit (QIAGEN) from transformed cells that underwent 50-100 fissions after
injection. Nuclear DNA was digested with one or
two restriction enzymes, resolved by electrophoresis on 0.7% TAE-agarose gels and transferred to
Hybond N+ nylon membranes (GE Healthcare).

Jpn. J. Protozool. Vol. 41, No. 2. (2008)

The membrane was hybridized with a randomly
labeled full-length PcVenus probe in 5x SSPE, 5x
Denhardt's solution, 0.5% SDS, 20 µg/ml salmon
sperm DNA overnight at 42°C. The membranes
were washed twice with 2x SSC, 0.1% SDS for 1530 min at 65°C and exposed to BioMax MS film
(Kodak).
Cloning of the integrated site on P. caudatum
genomeGenomic DNA (5 µg) from the transformant
PcV1 expressing histone H2B-PcVenus was digested with Afl II, extracted with phenol and precipitated with ethanol. Genomic DNA (~ 0.5 µg)
was self-ligated with Ligation High (Toyobo) at alow DNA concentration to foster intramolecular
circularization and transformed into TOP10(Invitrogen) using an E. coli Pulser (Bio-Rad).
Ampicillin-resistant positive clones were selected
on LB plates containing carbenicillin (50 µg/ml).
Twenty-six colonies were screened by colony PCR
with KOD Dash® DNA polymerase (Toyobo) using
the GFP-specific primers GFP RT-UP1 (5'GCTGAAGTCAAGTTTGAAGGTGATA-3') andGFP RT-LP1 (5'-AGCTGTTACAAACTCAAGAAGGAC-3'). The plasmid was purified from 8
positive colonies using QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit(Qiagen) and then sequenced using the dGTP BigDye Terminator Cycle Sequencing Kit and an ABIPRISM 3100 Gene Analyzer (Applied Biosystems).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Southern blots of transformant clones
The expression vector pTT3 H2B-PcVenus(Takenaka et al., 2007) contained 350-bp subtelomeric sequences plus 41 (ampicillin resistancegene side) or 5 (PcVenus side) tandem TTGGGG
repeats that originated from the Tetrahymena telomere fragment (Fig. 1A). The vector was digested
with Bam HI to expose telomeric repeats at bothends and microinjected into the macronucleus of P.

161

caudatum. Transformation was checked by microscopic observation of the codon-optimized yellow
fluorescent protein (PcVenus) fused at C-terminusof P. caudatum histone H2B. The fusion protein
was specifically localized in the macro- and micronucleus of transformant cells (Fig. 1B and C). To
clarify how injected DNA is maintained in themacronuclear genome of P. caudatum, we performed Southern blot analyses of genomic DNA
isolated from transformant cells that underwent 50 100 fissions after microinjection. Undigested or
Bam HI-digested total cellular DNA from 4 transformant clones (PcV1-PcV4) and 1 untransformed
clone was Southern blotted with a PcVenus specificprobe (PcV probe) comprising a 726-bp PCR fragment spanning the entire sequence of the PcVenus
gene (Fig. 1A, bar). Figure 1D (PcV1, lane Un) andE (PcV2 and PcV3, lanes Un) shows no predicted
5.2-kb band of linearized pTT3 H2B-PcVenus,
indicating that the injected DNA was not maintained as an episome in the macronucleus. Genomic
DNA cut with Bam HI and hybridized with the PcV
probe resulted in a large, homogeneous, high molecular weight smear without any discrete band
(Fig. 1D: PcV1, lane Bm; Fig. 1E: lanes Bm).
Therefore, injected linear expression vectors did
not form concatemers by ligating their Bam HI ends
in the nucleus, but were randomly integrated into
chromosome DNA. Hybridization signals from
PcV2 and PcV3 were weak, but similar to those of
PcV1 upon longer exposure (Fig. 1E), whereas
PcVenus was undetectable in untransformed cells
and in PcV4 (Fig. 1D and E). The copy numbers of
the retained expression vector in PcV1 calculatedusing the signal intensity of digested pTT3 H2BPcVenus vector as a standard ranged from 30,000 70,000 per cell. The copy numbers estimated in our
experiment were similar to those of P. tetraurelia(Gilley et al., 1988) and of P. primaurelia(Bourgain and Katinka, 1991).
We next clarified whether an end-to-end fusion
occurred between injected DNA and the chromosome. If the integrated vector was located close to162

Random insertion of DNA into the Paramecium chromosome

A(Bam HI)TEL

Hind IIISal I (Bam HI)

Spe I

Amp

ColE1

Tub promoter H2B-PcVenus

polyA

TEL

Bm

5.2 kb

Bm-Sl (Sl)

4.6 kb

Bm-Sp (Sp)

2.6 kb

Sp-Sl

2.0 kb

B

D

12
10
8
6
4
3
2
1.6

C

Cont PcV1 PcV2 PcV3 PcV4

VectorUn Bm Un Bm Un Bm Un Bm Un Bm

109 108 107 108 -Un

ECont PcV2 PcV3
Un Bm Un Bm Un Bm

5.2

12
10
8
6
4
3

5.2

2
1.6

1
0.85

1
0.85

(kb)

(kb)

Fig. 1. Transformation of P. caudatum with pTT3 H2B-PcVenus vector and Southern blots of transformants. (A)Map of pTT3 H2B-PcVenus digested with Bam HI before microinjection to expose telomere sequences (TEL) atboth ends. Solid bar indicates position of PcV probe. Bam HI (Bm), Bam HI-Sal I (Bm-Sl), Bam HI-Spe I (Bm-Sp)
and Spe I-Sal I (Sp-Sl) restriction fragments of 5.2-, 4.6-, 2.6-, and 2.0-kb, respectively, are shown. (B) Fluorescent
microscope photographs of cells expressing histone H2B-PcVenus. Arrowhead, the macronucleus. Bar, 50 µm. (C)Selfing conjugation of cells expressing histone H2B-PcVenus at about 12 hours after initiation of mating reaction.
Large arrowhead, macronucleus; small arrowhead, micronucleus undergoing second meiotic division. Bar, 50 µm.
These cells underwent about 100 fissions after microinjection of the pTT3 H2B-PcVenus expression vector. Photographs were taken under a fluorescent microscope (ZEISS AX10) with a digital camera (OLYMPUS E-330). (D)Restriction enzyme analysis of DNA from transformant clones (PcV1-PcV4) derived from cells injected with linearized pTT3 H2B-PcVenus vector and DNA derived from untransformed cells (Cont). Total cellular DNA wasdigested (Bm) or not (Un), blotted onto Hybond N+ membrane (Amersham Bioscience) and hybridized with PcVprobe. Total DNA (1.4 µg) from 4 independently transformed clones is shown as PcV1-PcV4. Copy numbers intransformant clones were calculated based on signal strength of 109, 108, 107 Bam HI-digested, and 108 undigested(108-Un) pTT3 H2B-PcVenus vectors. Membranes were exposed to BioMax MS film (Kodak) for 3 h. (E) Samemembrane as in (D) after exposure for 20 h. Signals from PcV2 and PcV3 became visible after longer exposure andwere similar to those from PcV1. Molecular size markers are noted at left.

Jpn. J. Protozool. Vol. 41, No. 2. (2008)

the chromosomal end, Southern blots of PcV1
genomic DNA digested by Spe I or Sal I, of which arecognition site exists between the PcVenus geneand chromosomal DNA, would result in the detection of a specific band upon hybridization with PcVprobe (Fig. 2A). The results showed a smeared
signal at a high molecular mass location (Fig. 2B,
lanes Sp and Sl) with a very weak band around 2.6(Sp) and 4.6 kb (Sl)(Asterisks in Fig. 2B), indicating that most of the vectors were not located close
to the chromosomal end. Double digestion of genomic DNA by Spe I and Bam HI, or Sal I and Bam
HI resulted in increased heterogeneous hybridization signals that were probably derived from DNA
molecules at a higher molecular mass as shown inlane Sp or Sl, with a minor band (Fig. 2B, lanes Bm-Sp and Bm-Sl).
Digesting genomic DNA and the pTT3 H2BPcVenus vector with Spe I and Sal I (Sp-Sl) or Hind
III and Sal I (Hd-Sl) resulted in discrete bands thatco-migrated at the same location (2.0 or 4.0 kb,

163

respectively; Fig. 2B). Digestion with these restriction enzymes generates a fragment that contains the
α-tubulin expression cassette and histone H2BPcVenus but lacks both telomere sequences.
Therefore, integration occurred mainly in or close
to the telomeric repeats of the injected vectors.
Direct cloning of the integration site
Although the Southern blots revealed that the
injected DNA had not been concatenated by ligation at the Bam HI sites of the linearized vector(Fig. 1D), other types of concatenation cannot be
ruled out. For example, if Bam HI-ends of the vector were trimmed by enzymes in the macronucleus
after injection, and each molecule was ligated, suchconcatenation would still generate the same results.
Therefore, we sequenced the DNA flanking thevector isolated from genomic DNA of PcV1.
Southern blots of genomic DNA digested with Hind
III and Sal I generated discrete signals at ~ 4.0 kb(Fig. 2B), suggesting that the ampicillin resistance

VectorPcV1

A

pTT3 H2B-PcVenus
Hd Sp Sl

Hd Sp SlB

Un Bm Sp Sl Bm Bm Sp Hd-Sp -Sl -Sl -Sl

Bm Sp SlBm Bm Sp Hd-Sp -Sl -Sl -Sl

Mac chromosome
PcVenus

PcVenusEnd-to-end fusion
Hd Sp Sl

Hd Sp SlSal I dig.
Hd Sp Sl4.6 kbSpe I dig.
Hd

Sp Sl

12
10
8
6
5
4
3
2
1.5

*
*

5.2
4.6
2.6
2.0

1
0.85
(kb)

2.6 kb

Fig. 2. (A) Speculative diagram of end-to-end fusion between injected pTT3 H2B-PcVenus and macronuclear chromosome.
Spe I, Sal I, and Hind III recognition sites are indicated by Sp, Sl, and Hd, respectively. Predicted length of fragments
containing PcVenus after Spe I or Sal I digestion are 2.6 or 4.6 kb, respectively. (B) Additional Southern blots of genomic
DNA (0.8 µg) from PcV1 and pTT3 H2B2-PcVenus plasmid (2 x 107) digested with Bam HI (Bm), Spe I (Sp), Sal I (Sl),Bam HI and Spe I (Bm-Sp), Bam HI and Sal I (Bm-Sl), Spe I and Sal I (Sp-Sl), Hind III and Sal I (Hd-Sl). DNA was thenresolved by electrophoresis, blotted and hybridized with PcV probe. Asterisks indicate minor 4.6-kbp Sal I and 2.6-kbp Spe
I fragments that were probably generated by end-to-end fusion between macronuclear chromosomes and injected DNA
molecules.

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Random insertion of DNA into the Paramecium chromosome

Fig. 3. Plasmid rescue procedure to isolate integrationsite of injected DNA and its flanking regions in transformant genomic DNA. Mic, micronucleus; Mac,
macronucleus. Details are described in Materials andmethods.

gene (Fig. 1A, Amp) and the replication origin(ColE1) on the pTT3 H2B-PcVenus vector werelargely intact in the chromosome DNA of PcV1.
Therefore, we isolated integrated plasmids withadjacent chromosomal DNA using a plasmid rescue
method (Fig. 3). Genomic DNA of PcV1 was initially digested with Afl II which does not cut thepTT3 H2B-PcVenus sequence. The genomic DNA
fragments were self-ligated and transformed into E.
coli by electroporation. Transformants were thenselected on LB-carbenicillin plates. We sequenced
8 E. coli clones, and confirmed that the DNA
flanking the vector did not contain any sequences
derived from the vector. A BLAST search of theflanking DNA resulted in no identity with any
known DNA sequences. The vector retained the fullor truncated telomeric repeats at the fusion junction
in many E. coli clones (Fig. 4, left ends of clones 1 4, 7 and right ends of 3 - 7). Fusion points were
found at subtelomeric or more inner regions of thevector in 4 E. coli clones (Fig. 4, left of clones 5 and
6; right of clones 1 and 2). Considering the resultsfrom the Southern blots and direct cloning of thefusion site, most of the injected vectors were nonspecifically inserted into chromosomal DNA without any type of concatenation.
The telomeric repeats in P. caudatum consist of
hundreds of base pairs and are elongated slowly
during vegetative propagation (Takenaka et al.,2001). Although the injected linear DNA molecules
contained telomeric repeats at both their extremities
that telomerases could recognize as elongatable
DNA ends, none of the E. coli clones contained
telomeric repeats longer than those of the pTT3
H2B-PcVenus vector at the fusion junction (Fig. 4).
This may be due to insertion of the introduced DNA
molecules into the macronuclear chromosomes
before telomere elongation by telomerases. Anotherexplanation might be the lack of telomere binding
proteins at the ends of the injected DNA molecules.
Telomeres in ciliate, yeast, and mammalian comprise DNA-protein complexes, the core proteins of

Jpn. J. Protozool. Vol. 41, No. 2. (2008)

Fig. 4. Sequence alignment of genome integration site from total cellular DNA of PcV1. Numbers of E. coli clones
are listed left of sequences. Boundary sequences obtained from 2 of 8 clones were identical. The hyphen (-) represents a gap in the alignment.

165

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Random insertion of DNA into the Paramecium chromosome

which directly bind to telomeric DNA to protect thechromosome ends. In yeast, the single-strand telomere binding protein, cdc13, and the telomerase
accessory protein, Est1, function as co-mediators totether telomerase to the telomere (Evans and Lundblad, 1999). Human POT1 and TPP1 that are
structural homologues of TEBP α and TEBP β(telomere end-binding protein) respectively, fromthe ciliate Oxytricha nova, are involved in telomerase processivity to the telomere (Wang et al.,2007). The P. caudatum macronucleus contains
more than 100 chromosomes at a copy number of
3,400 (> 6.8 x 105 DNA ends). Thus, microinjectionof ~ 1.5x105 copies of linearized pTT3 H2BPcVenus vectors (~ 3.0 x 105 DNA ends) resulted in
the abrupt emergence of exogenous DNA ends andthe depletion of pre-existing telomere-associatedproteins that are involved in the recruitment oftelomerase to the telomere. If this were so, theinjected vector would have been little, if any at all,telomerized due to poor interaction between telomerase and the naked telomere of the vector.
In Tetrahymena, DNA-mediated transformation has been achieved by autonomous replicationof the ribosomal RNA (rDNA) vectors (Tondravi
and Yao, 1986; Kahn et al., 1993; Cassidy-Hanley
et al., 1997). The rDNA vectors contain replication
origins and telomeres and exist as free linear palindromic dimers in the macronucleus (Bruns et al.,
1985; Yu et al., 1988; Yu and Blackburn, 1989; Yu
and Blackburn, 1990). When a circular or linear
plasmid containing rDNA is microinjected(Tondravi and Yao, 1986), electroporated (Gaertig
and Gorovsky, 1992), or bombarded with DNAcoated particles (Cassidy-Hanley et al., 1997) into
Tetrahymena, they do replace the host rDNA due toa replication advantage. The results of our Southernand plasmid rescue experiments showed that no
autonomous replication of free linear plasmid wasevident.
Molecules of DNA without a Paramecium
gene sequence or telomeric repeats microinjected

into the macronucleus of P. primaurelia are mostly
inserted into the chromosome by illegitimate recombination with a small proportion of free multimers (Katinka and Bourgain, 1992). Genome
integration of injected DNA in P. caudatum resembles that observed in P. primaurelia, which evokes
evolutionary insights into the conserved mechanism of recombination in Paramecium species. In P.
primaurelia, however, the insertion sites were notcompletely random, but about 30% of the molecules were integrated next to or within interstitial
telomere repeats, which were not identified by oursequencing of the insertion boundaries. Furthermore, we did not find any free multimers of injected
DNA molecules in P. caudatum. The data presented
here indicate that P. caudatum maintains introduced
DNA in a unique manner because of (i) a tendency
to randomly insert injected DNA into the macronuclear chromosomes by non-homologous or illegitimate recombination rather than by homologous
recombination between P. caudatum genes of theinjected DNA, (ii) the absence of free linear monomers or multimers of injected DNA fragments asfound in other close species (Godiska et al., 1987;
Gilley et al., 1988; Katinka and Bourgain, 1992)
even when they possess extant telomeric repeats at
both extremities, and (iii) the absence of insertion
hot spots such as internal or interstitial telomericrepeats. The insertion mechanism of injected DNA
molecules into P. caudatum genome requires further investigation to improve transformation efficiency.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported in part by Special
Coordination Funds for the Promoting Science andTechnology of the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (H. Mizuno), matching research funds from NIAS & NEC
Soft, Ltd. (H. Masuda and H. Mizuno), and funds

Jpn. J. Protozool. Vol. 41, No. 2. (2008)

from the University of Tsukuba (Y. Takenaka and
Y. Mitsui).
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