Codon Optimization of Insect Odorant Receptor Genes May Increase Their Stable Expression for Functional Characterization in HEK293 Cells.

ABSTRACT: Insect odorant receptor (OR) genes are routinely expressed in Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK) 293 cells for functional characterization ("de-orphanization") using transient or stable expression. However, progress in this research field has been hampered because some insect ORs are not functional in this system, which may be due to insufficient protein levels. We investigated whether codon optimization of insect OR sequences for expression in human cells could facilitate their functional characterization in HEK293 cells with stable and inducible expression. We tested the olfactory receptor co-receptor (Orco) proteins from the bark beetles Ips typographus ("Ityp") and Dendroctonus ponderosae ("Dpon"), and six ItypORs previously characterized in Xenopus laevis oocytes and/or

SUBMITTER: Roberts RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8450354 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature