Construction of plant expression vector of human interleukin-12

AIM: To construct the plant expression vector of human interleukin-12 (hIL-12) gene. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify hIL-12 gene from the plasmid pCA13-hIL-12. Both hIL-12 gene and the plant expression vector pBI121 were digested by SmaI and SacI respectively, recovered, and ligated through T4DNA ligase to obtain pBI121-hIL-12. The recombinant plasmid was checked by restriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing, and then it was transferred into Agrobacterium Tumefaciens EHA105 and GV3101 by tri-parental mating. RESULTS: Restriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing indicated that hIL-12 gene was inserted into the expression vector pBI121, and PCR proved that plant expression vector pBI121-hIL-12 was successfully transferred into Agrobacterium Tumefaciens EHA105 and GV3101. CONCLUSION: Successful construction of the plant expression vector pBI121-hIL-12 lays an experimental foundation for using the transgenic plants to produce hIL-12.