Cited by 786Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in InsectsFungal and yeast genetics researchMonoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research

The genomic sequence of the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cell line

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Xu, Xun, Nagarajan, Harish, Lewis, Nathan E, Pan, Shengkai, Cai, Zhiming, Liu, Xin, Chen, Wenbin, Xie, Min +15 more·2011·Nature Biotechnology

Abstract

Since 1987, immortalized cells from the ovary of a Chinese hamster have been the workhorse for producing recombinant therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, blood factors, hormones, growth factors and enzymes. Xu et al. provide the genome sequence of the ancestral CHO-K1 cell line, which should aid in the optimization of current production cell lines. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)–derived cell lines are the preferred host cells for the production of therapeutic proteins. Here we present a draft genomic sequence of the CHO-K1 ancestral cell line. The assembly comprises 2.45 Gb of genomic sequence, with 24,383 predicted genes. We associate most of the assembled scaffolds with 21 chromosomes isolated by microfluidics to identify chromosomal locations of genes. Furthermore, we investigate genes involved in glycosylation, which affect therapeutic protein quality, and viral susceptibility genes, which are relevant to cell engineering and regulatory concerns. Homologs of most human glycosylation-associated genes are present in the CHO-K1 genome, although 141 of these homologs are not expressed under exponential growth conditions. Many important viral entry genes are also present in the genome but not expressed, which may explain the unusual viral resistance property of CHO cell lines. We discuss how the availability of this genome sequence may facilitate genome-scale science for the optimization of biopharmaceutical protein production.

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  • The availability of genomic sequences has enabled CHO cell engineering with unprecedented precision using engineered nucleases including ZFNs, TALENs and CRISPR.

    “The availability of genomic sequences has enabled CHO cell engineering with unprecedented precision using engineered nucleases, including zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator like nucleases (TALENs) and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system [71–73,75,76].”

    From Glycoengineering Chinese hamster ovary cells: a short history (2021) · cites this paper as [71]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says the CHO-K1 sequence will facilitate targeted genetic manipulation and cell-line engineering. It presents this as an anticipated benefit, however, and does not describe engineering with ZFNs, TALENs or CRISPR, or establish that the sequence has already enabled it with unprecedented precision. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • CHO cells do not express alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferases (although they have the gene), and expression of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase is virtually absent.

    “CHO cells do not express alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferases, which produce the immunogenic alpha-galactosyl epitope (although they have the gene), and the expression of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase, which produces CMP-NeuGc, is virtually absent [27,71,72].”

    From Glycoengineering Chinese hamster ovary cells: a short history (2021) · cites this paper as [71]

    In Results (“Genes involved in immunogenic responses”), the paper reports that a Ggta1 homolog is present in the CHO-K1 genome but was not expressed, and that CMAH expression was not detected in its CHO-K1 analysis. The claim extends those expression findings to CHO cells generally; the same section also notes very small CHO subpopulations capable of producing α-Gal epitopes. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Advances in various omics technologies have significantly improved understanding of CHO cells at different levels and enabled rational targeting of glycosylation effectors for improved biopharmaceutical production.

    “Advances in various omics technologies have significantly improved our understanding of CHO cells at different levels and enabled the rational targeting of glycosylation effectors for improved biopharmaceutical production [27,71,72,150–152].”

    From Glycoengineering Chinese hamster ovary cells: a short history (2021) · cites this paper as [71]

    The Results section on glycosylation pathways (page not provided) uses genome and RNA-seq data to identify CHO-K1 glycosylation genes and their expression, supporting improved understanding and identification of potential targets. The Discussion (page not provided) says the sequence will facilitate targeted manipulation and that genes could potentially be activated or silenced; it does not show that omics-guided targeting has already improved biopharmaceutical production. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Xu, X., Nagarajan, H., Lewis, N. E., Pan, S., Cai, Z., Liu, X., Chen, W., Xie, M., Wang, W., Hammond, S., Andersen, M. R., Neff, N., Passarelli, B., Koh, W., Fan, H. C., Wang, J., Gui, Y., Lee, K. H., Betenbaugh, M. J., Quake, S. R., Famili, I., Palsson, B. O., & Wang, J.
Affiliations
  • BGI Group (China) (CN)
  • Peking University Shenzhen Hospital (CN)
  • Delaware Biotechnology Institute (US)
  • Technical University of Denmark (DK)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Wang, Jianbin
  • Wang, Jun
Venue
Nature Biotechnology
Published
2011-08
Volume
29
Issue
8
Pages
735-741
ISSN
  • 0733-222X (ISSN-L)
  • 1087-0156
  • 1546-1696
OpenAlex
W2093343938
Cited by
785
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 78 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 77 · 2014: 79 · 2013: 64 · 2012: 53
FWCI
27.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Biotechnology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
  • Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF10CC1016517)
  • National Cancer Institute (R44CA139977)
  • National Center for Research Resources (P20RR016472)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Fungal and yeast genetics research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
Keywords
CHO-K1 cells, CHO cells, draft genome sequence, therapeutic protein production, monoclonal antibodies, virus resistance, cell line engineering, genome assembly, gene expression
MeSH terms
Animals, Chromosome Mapping, Cricetulus, Glycosylation, Cricetinae, Models, Biological, Molecular Sequence Data, CHO Cells, Genome, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Genomics

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