Transgenesis in Xenopus using the Sleeping Beauty transposon system

Transposon-based integration systems have been widely used for genetic manipulation of invertebrate and plant model systems. In the past decade, these powerful tools have begun to be used in vertebrates for transgenesis, insertional mutagenesis, and gene therapy applications. Sleeping Beauty (SB) is a member of Tc1/mariner class of transposases and is derived from an inactive form of the gene isolated from Atlantic salmon. SB has been used extensively in human cell lines and in whole animal vertebrate model systems such as the mouse, rat, and zebrafish. In this study, we describe the use of SB in the diploid frog Xenopus tropicalis to generate stable transgenic lines. SB transposon transgenes integrate into the X. tropicalis genome by a noncanonical process and are passed through the germline. We compare the activity of SB in this model organism with that of Tol2, a hAT (hobo, Ac1, TAM)-like transposon system.