Increased Expression of DNA Cointroduced with Nuclear Protein in Adult Rat Liver

Abstract

DNA and nuclear proteins were transferred into cells simultaneously at more than 95% efficiency by means of vesicle complexes. The DNA was rapidly transported into the nuclei of cultured cells, and its expression reached a maximum within 6 to 8 hours after its introduction. Moreover, when the plasmid DNA and nuclear protein were cointroduced into nondividing cells in rat liver by injection into the portal veins of adult rats, the plasmid DNA was carried into liver cell nuclei efficiently by nuclear protein. The expression of the DNA in adult rat liver, on introduction of the DNA with nuclear protein, was more than five times as great as with nonnuclear protein.