Cancer Gene Discovery Utilizing Sleeping Beauty Transposon Mutagenesis

Transposable elements are DNA sequences with the ability to move from one genomic location to another. The movement of class II transposable elements has been functionally harnessed and separated into two distinct DNA transposon components: the terminal inverted repeat sequences that flank genetic cargo to be mobilized and a transposase enzyme capable of recognizing the terminal inverted repeat sequences and catalyzing the transposition reaction. In particular, the Sleeping Beauty (SB) system was the first successful demonstration of transposon-based gene transfer in vertebrate species. Over the years, several improvements have been made to SB technology and more recent studies have demonstrated the versatility of the system for many applications including insertional mutagenesis, gene transfer, and transgenesis. These genetic engineering advances made available by SB both augment and advance large-scale efforts that have been directed toward identifying how genes and environmental factors influence human health in recent years. In the age of personalized medicine, the versatility of SB provides numerous genetic engineering avenues for answering novel questions in basic and applied research. This chapter discusses the use of SB-based insertional mutagenesis in mice for the efficient identification of candidate cancer genes across numerous types of cancers.