The present application relates to the fields of genetics, gene therapy, and molecular biology. More specifically, the present invention relates to an isolated codon-optimized nucleic acid that encodes the SMN1 protein (survival motor neuron protein), an expression cassette and a vector based thereon, as well as an AAV9 (adeno-associated virus serotype 9)-based recombinant virus for increasing the expression of the SMN1 gene in target cells, and use thereof.

A pharmaceutical composition formulated for delivery of a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector comprising an AAV capsid and a vector genome having human galactosylceramidase (GALC) coding sequence is provided. Also provided are 5 methods and uses of a pharmaceutical composition comprising a rAAV for the treatment of Krabbe disease.

Biosensors for small molecules can be used in applications that range from metabolic engineering to orthogonal control of transcription. Biosensors are produced based on a ligand-binding domain (LBD) using a method that, in principle, can be applied for any target molecule. The LBD is fused to either a fluorescent protein or a transcriptional activator and is destabilized by mutation such that the fusion accumulates only in cells containing the target ligand. The power of this method is illustrated by developing biosensors for digoxin and progesterone. Addition of ligand to cells expressing a biosensor activates transcription in yeast, mammalian cells and plants, with a dynamic range of up to about 100-fold or more. The biosensors are used to improve the biotransformation of pregnenolone to progesterone in yeast and to regulate CRISPR activity in mammalian cells. This work provides a general methodology to develop biosensors for a broad range of molecules.

Described herein are prenyltransferases including non-natural variants thereof having at least one amino acid substitution as compared to its corresponding natural or unmodified prenyltransferases and that are capable of at least two-fold greater rate of formation of cannabinoids such as cannabigerolic acid, cannabigerovarinic acid, cannabigerorcinic acid, and cannabigerol, as compared to a wild type control. Prenyltransferase variants also accept different hydrophobic substrates (e.g., “donor” molecules), compared to wild type controls, to create different minor and novel cannabinoids. Prenyltransferase variants also demonstrated regioselectivity to desired cannabinoid isomers such as CBGA (3-GOLA), 3-GDVA, 3-GOSA, and CBG (2-GOL). The prenyltransferase variants can be used to form prenylated aromatic compounds, and can be expressed in an engineered microbe having a pathway to such compounds, which include 3-GOLA, 3-GDVA, 3-GOSA, and CBG. 3-GOLA can be used for the preparation of cannabigerol (CBG), which can be used in therapeutic compositions.

Provided is a vaccine composition including a recombinant DNA vaccine against a pathogen. The recombinant DNA vaccine includes an expression cassette operably linked to a promoter, and the expression cassette encodes a non-structural protein of a Sindbis virus and an antigenic protein of the pathogen. Also provided is a method of producing a protective immune response against a pathogen in a subject in need thereof by administering the vaccine composition to the subject.

Provided herein, in some embodiments, are materials and methods for treating hemophilia A in a subject ex vivo or in vivo. Also provided herein, in some embodiments, are materials and methods for knocking in a coding sequence encoding a synthetic FVIII having a B domain substitute into a genome.

An expression vector containing appropriate mitochondrion-targeting sequences (MTS) and appropriate 3′UTR sequences provides efficient and stable delivery of a mRNA encoding a protein (CDS) to the mitochondrion of a mammalian cell. The MTS and 3′UTR sequences guide the CDS mRNA from the nuclear compartment of the cell to mitochondrion-bound polysomes, where the CDS is translated. This provides an efficient translocation of a mature functional protein into the mitochondria. A method of targeting mRNA expressed in the nuclear compartment of a mammalian cell to the mitochondrion is also provided. The vector and methods can be used to treat defects in mitochondrial function.

In certain embodiments a lentiviral vector for the treatment of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) is provided. In certain embodiments the vector comprises an expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid construct comprising an effective fragment of the endogenous promoter of the WAS gene where said promoter has maximum length of 600 bp and contains the sequence of HS1pro, and a nucleic acid that encodes the Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein (WASp) operably linked to the effective fragment of the endogenous promoter of the WAS gene.

The present invention relates to polynucleotides comprising a Factor IX nucleotide sequence, wherein the Factor IX nucleotide sequence comprises a coding sequence that encodes a Factor IX protein or fragment thereof and wherein a portion of the coding sequence is not wild type. The present invention further relates to viral particles comprising a recombinant genome comprising the polynucleotide of the invention, compositions comprising the polynucleotides or viral particles, and methods and uses of the polynucleotides, viral particles or compositions.

The present invention relates to the field of recombinant viral vectors suitable for the delivery of therapeutic genes in vivo. Described is an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector comprising (i) a human growth hormone intron 3 (hGHi3) sequence (ii) a synapsin promoter sequence and/or (iii) a progranulin 3′ untranslated region (UTR) sequence, operably coupled to a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of interest. Specific use of such a vector lies in the enhanced expression of a polypeptide of interest, such as progranulin (PGRN), to treat subjects who have a genetic mutation or intrinsic polypeptide level that is below a physiologically normal level.