Effect of encephalomyocarditis virus 3'Untranslated region on GFP transient expression: implications in recombinant protein production

The enrichment of therapeutic protein production yield in mammalian cell cultures by modulating mRNA stability is a fairly new strategy in biotechnological applications. Here, we describe the application of 3′-untranslated region (3′UTR) from RNA viral genome to modulate mRNA stability. The data obtained showed that the use of the 3 'UTR sequence of the encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV 3'UTR) downstream of the target gene was not able to significantly modulate the free energy density indicators of the RNA. However, the sequence influenced the stability of the mRNA (and, therefore, the amount of protein production) in a cell type and time-dependent manner, indicating a central role of mRNA-stabilizing binding sites/cellular factors in this process. Our data might be of interest for the biotechnology community to improve recombinant protein production in mammalian cell cultures and RNA-based therapy/vaccination approaches.