Saccharomyces cerevisiae–Based Platform for Rapid Production and Evaluation of Eukaryotic Nutrient Transporters and Transceptors for Biochemical Studies and Crystallography

To produce large quantities of high quality eukaryotic membrane proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we modified a high-copy vector to express membrane proteins C-terminally-fused to a Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV) protease detachable Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP)-8His tag, which facilitates localization, quantification, quality control, and purification. Using this expression system we examined the production of a human glucose transceptor and 11 nutrient transporters and transceptors from S. cerevisiae that have not previously been overexpressed in S. cerevisiae and purified. Whole-cell GFP-fluorescence showed that induction of GFP-fusion synthesis from a galactose-inducible promoter at 15°C resulted in stable accumulation of the fusions in the plasma membrane and in intracellular membranes. Expression levels of the 12 fusions estimated by GFP-fluorescence were in the range of 0.4 mg to 1.7 mg transporter pr. liter cell culture. A detergent screen showed that n-dodecyl-ß-D-maltopyranoside (DDM) is acceptable for solubilization of the membrane-integrated fusions. Extracts of solubilized membranes were prepared with this detergent and used for purifications by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, which yielded partially purified full-length fusions. Most of the fusions were readily cleaved at a TEV protease site between the membrane protein and the GFP-8His tag. Using the yeast oligopeptide transporter Ptr2 as an example, we further demonstrate that almost pure transporters, free of the GFP-8His tag, can be achieved by TEV protease cleavage followed by reverse immobilized metal-affinity chromatography. The quality of the GFP-fusions was analysed by fluorescence size-exclusion chromatography. Membranes solubilized in DDM resulted in preparations containing aggregated fusions. However, 9 of the fusions solubilized in DDM in presence of cholesteryl hemisuccinate and specific substrates, yielded monodisperse preparations with only minor amounts of aggregated membrane proteins. In conclusion, we developed a new effective S. cerevisiae expression system that may be used for production of high-quality eukaryotic membrane proteins for functional and structural analysis.     

Construction of a dual-tag system for gene expression, protein affinity purification and fusion protein processing

An E. coli vector system was constructed which allows the expression of fusion genes via a l-rhamnose-inducible promotor. The corresponding fusion proteins consist of the maltose-binding protein and a His-tag sequence for affinity purification, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Smt3 protein for protein processing by proteolytic cleavage and the protein of interest. The Smt3 gene was codon-optimized for expression in E. coli. In a second rhamnose-inducible vector, the S. cerevisiae Ulp1 protease gene for processing Smt3 fusion proteins was fused in the same way to maltose-binding protein and His-tag sequence but without the Smt3 gene. The enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was used as reporter and protein of interest. Both fusion proteins (MalE-6xHis-Smt3-eGFP and MalE-6xHis-Ulp1) were efficiently produced in E. coli and separately purified by amylose resin. After proteolytic cleavage the products were applied to a Ni-NTA column to remove protease and tags. Pure eGFP protein was obtained in the flow-through of the column in a yield of around 35% of the crude cell extract.     

The Xenopus laevis Atg4B Protease: Insights into Substrate Recognition and Application for Tag Removal from Proteins Expressed in Pro- and Eukaryotic Hosts

During autophagy, members of the ubiquitin-like Atg8 protein family get conjugated to phosphatidylethanolamine and act as protein-recruiting scaffolds on the autophagosomal membrane. The Atg4 protease produces mature Atg8 from C-terminally extended precursors and deconjugates lipid-bound Atg8. We now found that Xenopus laevis Atg4B (xAtg4B) is ideally suited for proteolytic removal of N-terminal tags from recombinant proteins. To implement this strategy, an Atg8 cleavage module is inserted in between tag and target protein. An optimized xAtg4B protease fragment includes the so far uncharacterized C-terminus, which crucially contributes to recognition of the Xenopus Atg8 homologs xLC3B and xGATE16. xAtg4B-mediated tag cleavage is very robust in solution or on-column, efficient at 4°C and orthogonal to TEV protease and the recently introduced proteases bdSENP1, bdNEDP1 and xUsp2. Importantly, xLC3B fusions are stable in wheat germ extract or when expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but cleavable by xAtg4B during or following purification. We also found that fusions to the bdNEDP1 substrate bdNEDD8 are stable in S. cerevisiae. In combination, or findings now provide a system, where proteins and complexes fused to xLC3B or bdNEDD8 can be expressed in a eukaryotic host and purified by successive affinity capture and proteolytic release steps.     

A novel fusion partner for enhanced secretion of recombinant proteins in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis>

Expressing proteins with fusion partners improves yield and simplifies the purification process. We developed a novel fusion partner to improve the secretion of heterologous proteins that are otherwise poorly excreted in yeast. The VOA1 (YGR106C) gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a subunit of vacuolar ATPase. We found that C-terminally truncated Voa1p was highly secreted into the culture medium, even when fused with rarely secreted heterologous proteins such as human interleukin-2 (hIL-2). Deletion mapping of C-terminally truncated Voa1p, identified a hydrophilic 28-amino acid peptide (HL peptide) that was responsible for the enhanced secretion of target protein. A purification tag and a protease cleavage site were added to use HL peptide as a multi-purpose fusion partner. The utility of this system was tested via the expression and purification of various heterologous proteins. In many cases, the yield of target proteins fused with the peptide was significantly increased, and fusion proteins could be directly purified with affinity chromatography. The fusion partner was removed by in vitro processing, and intact proteins were purified by re-application of samples to affinity chromatography.     

Selecting Optimum Eukaryotic Integral Membrane Proteins for Structure Determination by Rapid Expression and Solubilization Screening

A medium-throughput approach is used to rapidly identify membrane proteins from a eukaryotic organism that are most amenable to expression in amounts and quality adequate to support structure determination. The goal was to expand knowledge of new membrane protein structures based on proteome-wide coverage. In the first phase, membrane proteins from the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were selected for homologous expression in S. cerevisiae, a system that can be adapted to expression of membrane proteins from other eukaryotes. We performed medium-scale expression and solubilization tests on 351 rationally selected membrane proteins from S. cerevisiae. These targets are inclusive of all annotated and unannotated membrane protein families within the organism's membrane proteome. Two hundred seventy-two targets were expressed, and of these, 234 solubilized in the detergent n-dodecyl-β-d-maltopyranoside. Furthermore, we report the identity of a subset of targets that were purified to homogeneity to facilitate structure determinations. The extensibility of this approach is demonstrated with the expression of 10 human integral membrane proteins from the solute carrier superfamily. This discovery-oriented pipeline provides an efficient way to select proteins from particular membrane protein classes, families, or organisms that may be more suited to structure analysis than others.     

Method to increase the yield of eukaryotic membrane protein expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for structural and functional studies

Despite recent successes in the structure determination of eukaryotic membrane proteins, the total number of structures of these important proteins is severely underrepresented in the Protein Data Bank. Although prokaryotic homologues provide valuable mechanistic insight, they often lack crucial details, such as post-translational modification and additional intra or extracellular domains that are important for understanding the function and regulation of these proteins in eukaryotic cells. The production of milligram quantities of recombinant protein is still a serious obstacle to the structural and functional characterization of these proteins. Here, we report a modification to a previously described over expression system using the simple eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae that can increase overall protein yield and improve downstream purification procedures. Using a metabolic marker under the control of a truncated promoter, we show that expression levels for several membrane transporters are increased fourfold. We further demonstrate that the increase in expression for our test proteins resulted in a concomitant increase in functional protein. Using this system, we were able to increase the expression level of a plant transporter, NRT1.1, which was a key factor in its structural and functional characterization.     

Single-column purification of free recombinant proteins using a self-cleavable affinity tag derived from a protein splicing element

A novel protein purification system has been developed which enables purification of free recombinant proteins in a single chromatographic step. The system utilizes a modified protein splicing element (intein) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sce VMA intein) in conjunction with a chitin-binding domain (CBD) from Bacillus circulans as an affinity tag. The concept is based on the observation that the modified Sce VMA intein can be induced to undergo a self-cleavage reaction at its N-terminal peptide linkage by 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT), β-mercaptoethanol (β-ME) or cysteine at low temperatures and over a broad pH range. A target protein is cloned in-frame with the N-terminus of the intein-CBD fusion, and the stable fusion protein is purified by adsorption onto a chitin column. The immobilized fusion protein is then induced to undergo self-cleavage under mild conditions, resulting in the release of the target protein while the intein-CBD fusion remains bound to the column. No exogenous proteolytic cleavage is needed. Furthermore, using this procedure, the purified free target protein can be specifically labeled at its C-terminus.     

HaloTag7: A genetically engineered tag that enhances bacterial expression of soluble proteins and improves protein purification

Over-expression and purification of soluble and functional proteins remain critical challenges for many aspects of biomolecular research. To address this, we have developed a novel protein tag, HaloTag7, engineered to enhance expression and solubility of recombinant proteins and to provide efficient protein purification coupled with tag removal. HaloTag7 was designed to bind rapidly and covalently with a unique synthetic linker to achieve an essentially irreversible attachment. The synthetic linker may be attached to a variety of entities such as fluorescent dyes and solid supports, permitting labeling of fusion proteins in cell lysates for expression screening, and efficient capture of fusion proteins onto a purification resin. The combination of covalent capture with rapid binding kinetics overcomes the equilibrium-based limitations associated with traditional affinity tags and enables efficient capture even at low expression levels. Following immobilization on the resin, the protein of interest is released by cleavage at an optimized TEV protease recognition site, leaving HaloTag7 bound to the resin and pure protein in solution. Evaluation of HaloTag7 for expression of 23 human proteins in Escherichia coli relative to MBP, GST and His₆Tag revealed that 74% of the proteins were produced in soluble form when fused to HaloTag7 compared to 52%, 39% and 22%, respectively, for the other tags. Using a subset of the test panel, more proteins fused to HaloTag7 were successfully purified than with the other tags, and these proteins were of higher yield and purity.     

Differential effects of supplementary affinity tags on the solubility of MBP fusion proteins

It is difficult to imagine any strategy for high-throughput protein expression and purification that does not involve genetically engineered affinity tags. Because of its ability to enhance the solubility and promote the proper folding of its fusion partners, Escherichia coli maltose-binding protein (MBP) is a particularly useful affinity tag. However, not all MBP fusion proteins bind efficiently to amylose resin, and even when they do it is usually not possible to obtain a sample of adequate purity after a single affinity step. To address this problem, we endeavored to incorporate supplemental affinity tags within the framework of an MBP fusion protein. We show that both the nature of the supplemental tags and their location can influence the ability of MBP to promote the solubility of its fusion partners. The most promising configurations for high-throughput protein expression and purification appear to be a fusion protein with a biotin acceptor peptide (BAP) on the N-terminus of MBP and/or a hexahistidine tag (His-tag) on the C-terminus of the passenger protein. Abbreviatoins: BAP, biotin acceptor peptide; EDTA, ethelenediaminetetraacetic acid; IPTG, isopropyl--d-thiogalactopyranoside; MBP, E. coli maltose-binding protein; GFP; green fluorescent protein; Ni-NTA, nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid; ORF, open reading frame; PCR; polymerase chain reaction; R5, polyarginine tag; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; TEV, tobacco etch virus; WT, wild-type     

Simplified,Enhanced Protein Purification Using an Inducible,Autoprocessing Enzyme Tag

We introduce a new method for purifying recombinant proteins expressed in bacteria using a highly specific, inducible, self-cleaving protease tag. This tag is comprised of the Vibrio cholerae MARTX toxin cysteine protease domain (CPD), an autoprocessing enzyme that cleaves exclusively after a leucine residue within the target protein-CPD junction. Importantly, V. cholerae CPD is specifically activated by inositol hexakisphosphate (InsP₆), a eukaryotic-specific small molecule that is absent from the bacterial cytosol. As a result, when His₆-tagged CPD is fused to the C-terminus of target proteins and expressed in Escherichia coli, the full-length fusion protein can be purified from bacterial lysates using metal ion affinity chromatography. Subsequent addition of InsP₆ to the immobilized fusion protein induces CPD-mediated cleavage at the target protein-CPD junction, releasing untagged target protein into the supernatant. This method condenses affinity chromatography and fusion tag cleavage into a single step, obviating the need for exogenous protease addition to remove the fusion tag(s) and increasing the efficiency of tag separation. Furthermore, in addition to being timesaving, versatile, and inexpensive, our results indicate that the CPD purification system can enhance the expression, integrity, and solubility of intractable proteins from diverse organisms.     

Eukaryotic integral membrane protein expression utilizing the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> glycerol-conducting channel protein (GlpF)

A fusion protein expression system is described that allows for production of eukaryotic integral membrane proteins in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The eukaryotic membrane protein targets are fused to the C terminus of the highly expressed E. coli inner membrane protein, GlpF (the glycerol-conducting channel protein). The generic utility of this system for heterologous membrane-protein expression is demonstrated by the expression and insertion into the E. coli cell membrane of the human membrane proteins: occludin, claudin 4, duodenal ferric reductase and a J-type inwardly rectifying potassium channel. The proteins are produced with C-terminal hexahistidine tags (to permit purification of the expressed fusion proteins using immobilized metal affinity chromatography) and a peptidase cleavage site (to allow recovery of the unfused eukaryotic protein).     

Degradation of C-terminal tag sequences on domain antibodies purified from E. coli supernatant

Expression of recombinant proteins often takes advantage of peptide tags expressed in fusion to allow easy detection and purification of the expressed proteins. However, as the fusion peptides most often are flexible appendages at the N- or C-terminal, proteolytic cleavage may result in removal of the tag sequence. Here, we evaluated the functionality and stability of 14 different combinations of commonly used tags for purification and detection of recombinant antibody fragments. The tag sequences were inserted in fusion with the c-terminal end of a domain antibody based on the HEL4 scaffold in a phagemid vector. This particular antibody fragment was able to refold on the membrane after blotting, allowing us to detect c-terminal tag breakdown by use of protein A in combination with detection of the tags in the specific constructs. The degradation of the c-terminal tags suggested specific sites to be particularly prone to proteolytic cleavage, leaving some of the tag combinations partially or completely degraded. This specific work illustrates the importance of tag design with regard to recombinant antibody expression in E. coli, but also aids the more general understanding of protein expression.     

Heterologous expression of L. major proteins in S. cerevisiae: a test of solubility, purity, and gene recoding

High level expression of many eukaryotic proteins for structural analysis is likely to require a eukaryotic host since many proteins are either insoluble or lack essential post-translational modifications when expressed in E. coli. The well-studied eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses several attributes of a good expression host: it is simple and inexpensive to culture, has proven genetic tractability, and has excellent recombinant DNA tools. We demonstrate here that this yeast exhibits three additional characteristics that are desirable in a eukaryotic expression host. First, expression in yeast significantly improves the solubility of proteins that are expressed but insoluble in E. coli. The expression and solubility of 83 Leishmania major ORFs were compared in S. cerevisiae and in E. coli, with the result that 42 of the 64 ORFs with good expression and poor solubility in E. coli are highly soluble in S. cerevisiae. Second, the yield and purity of heterologous proteins expressed in yeast is sufficient for structural analysis, as demonstrated with both small scale purifications of 21 highly expressed proteins and large scale purifications of 2 proteins, which yield highly homogeneous preparations. Third, protein expression can be improved by altering codon usage, based on the observation that a codon-optimized construct of one ORF yields three-fold more protein. Thus, these results provide direct verification that high level expression and purification of heterologous proteins in S. cerevisiae is feasible and likely to improve expression of proteins whose solubility in E. coli is poor.     

Recombinant Passenger Proteins Can Be Conveniently Purified by One-Step Affinity Chromatography

Fusion tag is one of the best available tools to date for enhancement of the solubility or improvement of the expression level of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Typically, two consecutive affinity purification steps are often necessitated for the purification of passenger proteins. As a fusion tag, acyl carrier protein (ACP) could greatly increase the soluble expression level of Glucokinase (GlcK), α-Amylase (Amy) and GFP. When fusion protein ACP-G2-GlcK-Histag and ACP-G2-Amy-Histag, in which a protease TEV recognition site was inserted between the fusion tag and passenger protein, were coexpressed with protease TEV respectively in E. coli, the efficient intracellular processing of fusion proteins was achieved. The resulting passenger protein GlcK-Histag and Amy-Histag accumulated predominantly in a soluble form, and could be conveniently purified by one-step Ni-chelating chromatography. However, the fusion protein ACP-GFP-Histag was processed incompletely by the protease TEV coexpressed in vivo, and a large portion of the resulting target protein GFP-Histag aggregated in insoluble form, indicating that the intracellular processing may affect the solubility of cleaved passenger protein. In this context, the soluble fusion protein ACP-GFP-Histag, contained in the supernatant of E. coli cell lysate, was directly subjected to cleavage in vitro by mixing it with the clarified cell lysate of E. coli overexpressing protease TEV. Consequently, the resulting target protein GFP-Histag could accumulate predominantly in a soluble form, and be purified conveniently by one-step Ni-chelating chromatography. The approaches presented here greatly simplify the purification process of passenger proteins, and eliminate the use of large amounts of pure site-specific proteases.     

Bridging the gap: A GFP‐based strategy for overexpression and purification of membrane proteins with intra and extracellular C‐termini

Low expression and instability during isolation are major obstacles preventing adequate structure‐function characterization of membrane proteins (MPs). To increase the likelihood of generating large quantities of protein, C‐terminally fused green fluorescent protein (GFP) is commonly used as a reporter for monitoring expression and evaluating purification. This technique has mainly been restricted to MPs with intracellular C‐termini (C_in) due to GFP's inability to fluoresce in the Escherichia coli periplasm. With the aid of Glycophorin A, a single transmembrane spanning protein, we developed a method to convert MPs with extracellular C‐termini (C_out) to C_in ones providing a conduit for implementing GFP reporting. We tested this method on eleven MPs with predicted C_out topology resulting in high level expression. For nine of the eleven MPs, a stable, monodisperse protein‐detergent complex was identified using an extended fluorescence‐detection size exclusion chromatography procedure that monitors protein stability over time, a critical parameter affecting the success of structure‐function studies. Five MPs were successfully cleaved from the GFP tag by site‐specific proteolysis and purified to homogeneity. To address the challenge of inefficient proteolysis, we explored expression and purification conditions in the absence of the fusion tag. Contrary to previous studies, optimal expression conditions established with the fusion were not directly transferable for overexpression in the absence of the GFP tag. These studies establish a broadly applicable method for GFP screening of MPs with C_out topology, yielding sufficient protein suitable for structure‐function studies and are superior to expression and purification in the absence GFP fusion tagging.     

Strep-tag II and Twin-Strep Based Cassettes for Protein Tagging by Homologous Recombination and Characterization of Endogenous Macromolecular Assemblies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Peptide sequences fused to a gene of interest facilitate the isolation of proteins or protein complexes from cell extracts. In the case of fluorescent protein tags, the tagged protein can be visually localized in living cells. To tag endogenous genes, PCR-based homologous recombination is a powerful approach used in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This approach uses short, homologous DNA sequences that flank the tagging cassette to direct recombination. Here, we constructed a set of plasmids, whose sequences were optimized for codon usage in yeast, for Strep-tag II and Twin-Strep tagging in S. cerevisiae. Some plasmids also contain sequences encoding for a fluorescent protein followed by the purification tag. We demonstrate using the yeast pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex that these plasmids can be used to purify large protein complexes efficiently. We furthermore demonstrate that purification from the endogenous pool using the Strep-tag system results in functionally active complexes. Finally, using the fluorescent tags, we show that a kinase and a phosphatase involved in regulating the activity of the PDH complex localize in the cells’ mitochondria. In conclusion, our cassettes can be used as tools for biochemical, functional, and structural analyses of endogenous multi-protein assemblies in yeast.     

Purified E255L Mutant SERCA1a and Purified PfATP6 Are Sensitive to SERCA-type Inhibitors but Insensitive to Artemisinins

The antimalarial drugs artemisinins have been described as inhibiting Ca²⁺-ATPase activity of PfATP6 (Plasmodium falciparum ATP6) after expression in Xenopus oocytes. Mutation of an amino acid residue in mammalian SERCA1 (Glu²⁵⁵) to the equivalent one predicted in PfATP6 (Leu) was reported to induce sensitivity to artemisinin in the oocyte system. However, in the present experiments, we found that artemisinin did not inhibit mammalian SERCA1a E255L either when expressed in COS cells or after purification of the mutant expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Moreover, we found that PfATP6 after expression and purification from S. cerevisiae was insensitive to artemisinin and significantly less sensitive to thapsigargin and 2,5-di(tert-butyl)-1,4-benzohydroquinone than rabbit SERCA1 but retained higher sensitivity to cyclopiazonic acid, another type of SERCA1 inhibitor. Although mammalian SERCA and purified PfATP6 appear to have different pharmacological profiles, their insensitivity to artemisinins suggests that the mechanism of action of this class of drugs on the calcium metabolism in the intact cell is complex and cannot be ascribed to direct inhibition of PfATP6. Furthermore, the successful purification of PfATP6 affords the opportunity to develop new antimalarials by screening for inhibitors against PfATP6.     

The novel Fh8 and H fusion partners for soluble protein expression in Escherichia coli: a comparison with the traditional gene fusion technology

The Escherichia coli host system is an advantageous choice for simple and inexpensive recombinant protein production but it still presents bottlenecks at expressing soluble proteins from other organisms. Several efforts have been taken to overcome E. coli limitations, including the use of fusion partners that improve protein expression and solubility. New fusion technologies are emerging to complement the traditional solutions. This work evaluates two novel fusion partners, the Fh8 tag (8 kDa) and the H tag (1 kDa), as solubility enhancing tags in E. coli and their comparison to commonly used fusion partners. A broad range comparison was conducted in a small-scale screening and subsequently scaled-up. Six difficult-to-express target proteins (RVS167, SPO14, YPK1, YPK2, Frutalin and CP12) were fused to eight fusion tags (His, Trx, GST, MBP, NusA, SUMO, H and Fh8). The resulting protein expression and solubility levels were evaluated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis before and after protein purification and after tag removal. The Fh8 partner improved protein expression and solubility as the well-known Trx, NusA or MBP fusion partners. The H partner did not function as a solubility tag. Cleaved proteins from Fh8 fusions were soluble and obtained in similar or higher amounts than proteins from the cleavage of other partners as Trx, NusA or MBP. The Fh8 fusion tag therefore acts as an effective solubility enhancer, and its low molecular weight potentially gives it an advantage over larger solubility tags by offering a more reliable assessment of the target protein solubility when expressed as a fusion protein.     

The starch-binding domain as a tool for recombinant protein purification

Recombinant protein purification with affinity tags is a widely employed technique. One of the most common tags used for protein purification is the histidine tag (His_tag). In this work, we use a tandem starch-binding domain (SBD_tag) as a tag for protein purification. Four proteins from different sources were fused to the SBD_tag, and the resulting fusion proteins were purified by affinity chromatography using the His_tag or the SBD_tag. The results showed that the SBD_tag is superior to the His_tag for protein purification. The efficient adsorption of the fusion proteins to raw corn starch was also demonstrated, and two fusions were selected to test purification directly using raw starch from rice, corn, potato, and barley. The two fusion proteins were successfully recovered from crude bacterial extract using raw starch, thus demonstrating that the SBD_tag can be used as an efficient affinity tag for recombinant protein purification on an inexpensive matrix.