In this note, we report a novel and efficient three primers PCR (TP-PCR) method to rapidly generate recombinant DNA molecule at precise junction between two arbitrary DNA fragments. TP-PCR method is characterized by its reaction system with two templates and three primers, which can produce a recombinant DNA molecule in one PCR reaction. The main advantages of this method are the independence of sequences at the recombination site, the rapid-ness, and the easy establishment of adequate conditions. This method has been successfully applied to constructing a fusion protein gene, sck gene.
Targeting of the synthesized polypeptide in the cells is an important research field in modern cell biology. Cowpea trypsin inhibitor (cpti) gene has been modified and a fusion protein gene (sck) was produced by fusing a signal peptide sequence at cpti 5' end and an endoplasm reticulum (ER) retention signal peptide at cpti3' end respectively. The signal peptide can direct the newly synthesized polypeptide into ER, while ER retention signal can make the protein retained in the ER and its derivative protein body. ELISA test indicated that the accumulation level of foreign CpTI protein in sck transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) was two times higher than cpti transgenic tobaccos and some individuals were four times higher. At the same time, sck transgenic tobacco has a high resistance to Lepidoptera pest due to the increased accumulation level of foreign CpTI protein. The strategy of foreign protein targeting can be used to increase the accumulation level of foreign protein in transgenic plants and can be widely applied to other related research field in plant genetic engineering.
