Using an Escherichia coli cell-free extract to screen for soluble expression of recombinant proteins

For structural and functional genomics programs, new high-throughput methods to characterize well-expressing and highly soluble proteins are essential. A faster and more convenient approach to screen expression conditions of recombinant proteins compared to classical in vivo systems is the Escherichia coli cell-free expression system. Here, we describe a rapid procedure to screen for expression and solubility of recombinant proteins using an E. coli cell-free extract. The results presented cover 24 open reading frames of unknown function from different micro-organisms. In order to screen different variables that may interfere with solubility, we expressed the recombinant proteins with a histidine6 tag, either N-terminal or C-terminal at two temperatures (25 degrees C and 30 degrees C). The identification of recombinant proteins is performed by the dot blot procedure using an anti-histidine tag antibody. We designed a rapid method that allows the characterization of soluble candidates from a large number of genes or from a large number of variants that is highly compatible with structural genomics expectations.     

Interplay of SOS induction,recombinant gene expression,and multimerization of plasmid vectors in Escherichia coli

Using pBR322- and pUC-derived plasmid vectors, a homologous (Escherichia coli native esterase) and three heterologous proteins (human interleukin-2, human interleukin-6, and Zymomonas levansucrase) were synthesized in E. coli IC2015(recA::lacZ) and GY4786 (sfiA::lacZ) strains. Via time-course measurement of beta-galactosidase activity in each recombinant culture, the SOS induction was estimated in detail and the results were systematically compared. In recombinant E. coli, the SOS response did not happen either with the recombinant insert-negative plasmid backbone alone or the expression vectors containing the homologous gene. Irrespective of gene expression level and toxic activity of synthesized foreign proteins, the SOS response was induced only when the heterologous genes were expressed using a particular plasmid vector, indicating strong dependence on the recombinant gene clone and the selection of a plasmid vector system. It is suggested that in recombinant E. coli the SOS response (i.e., activation of recA expression and initial sfiA expression) may be related neither to metabolic burden nor toxic cellular event(s) by synthesized heterologous protein, but may be provoked by foreign gene-specific interaction between a foreign gene and a plasmid vector. Unlike in E. coli XL1-blue(recA(-)) strains used, all expression vectors encoding each of the three heterologous proteins were multimerized in E. coli IC2015 strains in the course of cultivation, whereas the expression vectors containing the homologous gene never formed the plasmid multimers. The extent of multimerization was also dependent on a foreign gene insert in the expression vector. As a dominant effect of the SOS induction, recombinant plasmid vectors used for heterologous protein expression appear to significantly form various multimers in the recA(+) E. coli host.     

Fermentation characteristics and protein expression patterns in a recombinant Escherichia coli mutant lacking phosphoglucose isomerase for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) production

For the efficient production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) using recombinant Escherichia coli, it is of primal importance to overproduce NADPH, which is necessary for the PHB synthetic pathway. In order to overproduce NADPH in the pentose phosphate (PP) pathway, a recombinant E. coli was constructed in which the phosphoglucose isomerase ( pgi) gene was knocked out to force the carbon flow into the PP pathway. The fermentation characteristics of the recombinant E. coli mutant lacking pgi were then investigated to determine the effect of overproduction of NADPH on efficient PHB production. It was found that, compared with the parent strain ( E. coli JM109), growth of the E. coli mutant lacking pgi ( E. coli DF11) is repressed due to NADPH overproduction in the PP pathway. Furthermore, repressed cell growth can be recovered to some extent by introducing a NADPH-consuming pathway, such as the PHB synthetic pathway. Efficient PHB production using such recombinant E. coli (DF11/pAeKG1) could be attained by appropriately controlling the glucose concentration in the fermentor. Total gene expression was investigated at the protein level by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Out of 22 differentially expressed proteins, 12 were identified with the aid of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Variations in the accumulation of PHB in the recombinant pgi mutant carrying phb (E. coli DF11/pAeKG1) corresponded to the expression of proteins encoded by rpsA, znuA, fabD, potD, fkpA, gapA, ynaF and ibpA. The unfavorable conditions generated by PHB accumulation in the pgi mutant carrying phb resulted in the highest expression of 30S ribosomal protein S1, which ultimately caused a further increase in soluble protein synthesis.     

Ligation independent cloning vectors for expression of SUMO fusions

With demand increasing for the production of many different proteins for biophysical or biochemical analyses, rapid methods are needed for the cloning, expression and purification of native recombinant proteins. In particular, generic methods are required that are independent of the target gene sequence. To address this challenge we have constructed four Escherichia coli expression vectors that can be used for ligation independent cloning (LIC) of an amplified target gene sequence. These vectors represent the combinatorial pairing of two different parent vector backbones with two different affinity tags. The target gene is cloned downstream of the sequence coding for an affinity-tagged small ubiquitin related modifier (SUMO). Using enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as an example we demonstrate that the LIC procedure works with high efficiency for all four of the vectors. We also show that the resultant recombinant SUMO fusion proteins can be overexpressed in E. coli and readily isolated by standard affinity purification techniques. Importantly, the purified fusion product can be treated with recombinant SUMO hydrolase to yield a mature target protein with any residue except proline at the amino terminus. We demonstrate an application of this by generating recombinant eGFP containing a non-native amino terminal cysteine residue and using it as a substrate for expressed protein ligation (EPL). The reagents and techniques described here represent a generic method for the rapid cloning and production of a target protein, and would be appropriate for a high throughput genomic scale expression project.     

Construction, expression, purification and biotin labeling of a single recombinant multi-epitope antigen for double-antigen sandwich ELISA to detect hepatitis C virus antibody

Based on B cell epitope predictions, a recombinant antigen with multiple epitopes from four Hepatitis C Virus fragments (C, NS3, NS4 and NS5) were engineered. The recombinant gene was then highly expressed in E. coli. The non-modified and C-terminal-modified recombinant proteins were used for coating and biotin labeling, respectively, to establish the double-antigen sandwich ELISA. Ten positive reference samples confirmed by the CHIRON RIBA HCV 3.0 SIA kit were detected positive, Forty one plasma samples were positive among samples from 441 volunteers, which indicated that the recombinant antigen could readily react well with plasma HCV antibody. As critical reagents of double-antigen sandwich ELISA, the recombinant multi-epitope antigen and the C-terminal-modified and biotin-conjugated antigen show good antigenicity. In this study, we provide a simple approach to produce multiple epitopes within one recombinant protein in order to avoid the costly expression of less-effective pools of multiple proteins, which is the conventional strategy of diagnostic antigen production for HCV antibody detection.     

Synthesis, cloning and expression of recombinant aprotinin

Synthetic DNA fragments containing the coding sequence for the serine proteinase inhibitor aprotinin, also known as bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) a Kunitz type inhibitor were fused to form a synthetic aprotinin gene by the method of Khorana and cloned into E. coli. The synthetic gene is characterized by the presence of certain restriction sites. These restriction sites are unique within the used cloning system. Therefore, a great number of modifications can be achieved easily by exchange of appropriate restriction fragments. Using this method the variant [Glu52]aprotinin was obtained starting from the aprotinin gene. Both genes were successfully expressed in E. coli as fusion proteins with beta-galactosidase using vector pUR 278. No translation products could be detected in four other expression system (pUR 108, pDR 540, pKK 223-3 and pUC 8). [Glu52]aprotinin was purified and renatured after cyanogen bromide cleavage of the fusion protein. This recombinant [Glu52]aprotinin shows exactly the same trypsin-inhibitory profile as natural aprotinin.     

一种低温表达型T载体及其应用

在现代生物学和生物技术研究中,通过基因重组表达获得目标蛋白已成为常规技术。因其培养简单、操作方便、遗传背景清楚、克隆表达技术成熟,大肠杆菌表达系统通常是人们表达重组蛋白的首选。但是在常规温度下进行基因的重组表达,动、植物和常温微生物的基因产物多数在数小时内变性沉淀;还有一些重组蛋白对宿主具有细胞毒性,难以得到重组表达。因此,我们构建了1种新型T载体——pEXC-T;它结合TA克隆技术和低温诱导表达功能,具有表达水平高、操作方便、目标蛋白得到分子伴侣保护和低温保存等特点。采用构建和优化的pEXC载体,P1抗原蛋白、溶血素PLO两种不稳定性蛋白在pEXC中都实现了高效的可溶性表达。低温表达系统p EXC的建立和发展为蛋白质的结构与功能的研究,以及抗原和药用蛋白的制备提供了便利的途径。     

双顺反子翻译偶联表达载体的构建及蚓激酶基因F238在大肠杆菌中的可溶性表达

为了实现外源蛋白在大肠杆菌中的可溶性表达,利用硫氧还蛋白作为分子伴侣构建双顺反子翻译偶联表达载体pDICT。将大肠杆菌硫氧还蛋白基因插入到pET22b载体NdeI和EcoR I位点之间,同时在硫氧还蛋白编码基因的终止密码子前加入核糖体结合位点,构建成双顺反子翻译偶联表达载体pDICT。将蚓激酶基因F238克隆到该载体,转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)并诱导表达。SDS-PAGE结果表明,所表达的蚓激酶F238是可溶性蛋白。利用血纤维蛋白法对表达产物进行活性测定,重组蚓激酶F238不仅具有纤溶酶活性,而且具有激活纤溶酶原的激酶活性。该双顺反子翻译偶联表达载体的构建,为在大肠杆菌中可溶性表达外源蛋白提供了新方法。     

黄鳍金枪鱼抗菌肽YFGAP在大肠杆菌中融合表达及其活性检测

【目的】抗菌肽YFGAP由32个氨基酸组成,分子量为3.4 kD,对革兰氏阳性菌(G+)和革兰氏阴性菌(G?)表现出强效的抑制作用,不具有溶血活性。在大肠杆菌中表达抗菌肽YFGAP,分离纯化抗菌肽并鉴定其生物学活性。【方法】化学合成EK-YFGAP和L-EK-YFGAP基因序列,构建表达载体pET22b-ELP20-EK-YFGAP、pET22b-ELP40-EK-YFGAP和pET22b-ELP40-L-EK- YFGAP,分别转化至大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中诱导表达,可逆相变循环纯化融合蛋白。肠激酶酶切,经Vivaspin Turbo纯化柱纯化,测定重组抗菌肽的抑菌活性和溶血活性。【结果】纯化出两种融合蛋白ELP40-EK-YFGAP和ELP40-L-EK-YFGAP,肠激酶酶切纯化后获得重组抗菌肽YFGAP,对4种病原菌均有抑制效果,溶血活性较低。【结论】以ELPs作为非色谱纯化标签,实现了抗菌肽YFGAP的融合表达,具有操作简单、成本低、易于扩大的优势,为重组抗菌肽的量化制备及应用提供了理论基础和技术支持。     

基于重组技术的低毒力高效大肠杆菌原核表达系统的改造与应用

[背景]大肠杆菌作为原核表达系统常用宿主菌株,具有培养成本低、周期短和操作性强等优势,但同时也存在着一些不足.[目的]降低大肠杆菌内毒素合成水平及毒力,同时提高其可溶性表达外源蛋白的能力.[方法]利用CRISPR-Cas技术敲除大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)脂多糖生物合成途径中的lpxM,改变其毒性中心类脂A的侧链结构;在...     

Thermostable Pyrococcus woesei beta-D-galactosidase--high level expression, purification and biochemical properties

The gene encoding beta-D-galactosidase from Pyrococcus woesei was PCR amplified, cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of an inducible T7 promoter, purified and characterized. The expression system was developed by the construction of recombinant plasmid, based on the high copy number pUET1 vector, giving four times more efficient expression of P. woesei beta-D-galactosidase (20 mg of enzyme from 1 liter of culture) than that obtained from a previously constructed one. The recombinant enzymes were purified in a two-step procedure: double heat-denaturation of E. coli cell proteins and affinity chromatography on p-aminobenzyl 1-thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside-agarose. To achieve efficient purification of P. woesei beta-D-galactosidase by immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), a His-tag was placed either at the N- or the C-terminal of the coding sequence. The obtained fusion proteins revealed the same specific activity of approximately 5400 U/mg, which was 10 times lower than the wild-type beta-D-galactosidase (51100 U/mg). The activity of P. woesei beta-D-galactosidase was enhanced by thiol compounds, Mg(2+) ions and D-galactose, and was inhibited by heavy metal ions and D-glucose, while Ca(2+) ions had no effect.     

A high-throughput microtiter plate-based screening method for the detection of full-length recombinant proteins

The Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli is an important host for the (heterologous) production of recombinant proteins. The development and optimization of a protocol to overproduce a desired protein in E. coli is often tedious. A novel high-throughput screening method based on the Luminex xMAP bead technology was developed allowing a rapid evaluation of a certain expression strategy. A variant of green fluorescent protein (GFPuv) from Aequorea victoria was used as a reporter to establish the methodology. The N-terminus and the C-terminus of GFPuv were engineered to contain a His(6)- and an HA-tag (YPYDVPDYA), respectively. The double-tagged protein was loaded onto Luminex-microspheres via its His(6)-tag, the presence of the HA-tag was verified using an anti-HA antibody. High-throughput detection of full-length proteins (containing both tags) on the beads was performed using an automated Luminex 100IS analyzer. The results were compared to results obtained by classical Western blot analysis. Comparison of the two methods revealed that the Luminex-based method is faster and more economical in detecting full-length (intact) soluble recombinant protein, allowing one to routinely screen a high number of parameters in gene expression experiments. As proof of concept, different protocols to overproduce double-tagged model eucaryotic proteins (human protein S6 kinase 1 and human tankyrase) in E. coli were monitored using the new approach. Relevant parameters for optimizing gene expression of the corresponding genes were rapidly identified using the novel high-throughput method.     

颗粒裂解肽G13结构域在大肠杆菌中的高效融合表达

为高效表达颗粒裂解肽G13结构域并避免G13对宿主菌的毒性, 将人工合成的编码G13的基因片段, PCR扩增后克隆于原核表达载体pThioHisA中, 构建了重组表达载体pThioHisA-G13, 将其转化于大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中, 经IPTG诱导表达融合蛋白Trx-G13, 表达产物以包涵体的形式存在, 其表达量约占细菌总蛋白的58%。包涵体蛋白经 8 mol/L尿素溶解后, 再经CNBr切割, 阳离子交换层析, 得到纯化的重组G13结构域。琼脂糖扩散法检测表明重组G13结构域多肽具有抗菌活性。     

重组人β防御素3在大肠杆菌中的表达和活性分析

防御素是生物界广泛分布的一类低分子短肽,具有广谱高效的杀菌、抗肿瘤作用,并且不易使微生物产生抗药性,具有很高的应用价值,其中最引人注目的是β防御素[1,2].人β防御素3(humanβ-defensin3,hBD3)是最近发现的第3种人源性β防御素,与其它人防御素相比,在抗菌活性等方面具有明显优势,是所有防御素中抗菌能力最强的之一[3~7],具有独特的研究和开发价值.为了得到高效表达hBD3的工程菌株,本实验按照细菌对密码子的偏爱,人工合成了hBD3的寡核苷酸片段,构建了其表达载体.经IPTG诱导、分离纯化和肠激酶切割,得到了与天然hBD3活性基本相同的…     

Echinostoma caproni: identification of enolase in excretory/secretory products, molecular cloning, and functional expression

In order to investigate molecules that could be involved in host-trematode relationships, we have analysed the excretory/secretory products (ESP) of Echinostoma caproni following a proteomic approach. Actin, Gluthathione S-transferase (GST) and enolase have been identified in the ESP. Enolase, observed to be one of the most abundant proteins, was further characterized. The molecular cloning and in vitro expression in Escherichia coli of E. caproni enolase allowed us to determine that the protein contains 431 amino acids and a theoretical MW of 46272 Da. E. caproni enolase shows high homology to other trematode enolases. The recombinant protein binds specifically to human plasminogen in vitro, as observed for the native protein, confirming its properties as a host-interacting molecule.     

An efficient strategy for high throughput screening of recombinant integral membrane protein expression and stability

Membrane proteins account for about 30% of the genomes sequenced to date and play important roles in a variety of cellular functions. However, determining the three-dimensional structures of membrane proteins continues to pose a major challenge for structural biologists due to difficulties in recombinant expression and purification. We describe here a high throughput pipeline for Escherichia coli based membrane protein expression and purification. A ligation-independent cloning (LIC)-based vector encoding a C-terminal green fluorescence protein (GFP) tag was used for cloning in a high throughput mode. The GFP tag facilitated expression screening in E. coli through both cell culture fluorescence measurements and in-gel fluorescence imaging. Positive candidates from the GFP screening were subsequently sub-cloned into a LIC-based, GFP free vector for further expression and purification. The expressed, C-terminal His-tagged membrane proteins were purified via membrane enrichment and Ni-affinity chromatography. Thermofluor technique was applied to screen optimal buffers and detergents for the purified membrane proteins. This pipeline has been successfully tested for membrane proteins from E. coli and can be potentially expanded to other prokaryotes.     

死亡素与泛素在大肠杆菌中的高效融合表达

死亡素是由21个氨基酸残基组成的广谱抗菌肽。为了高效表达可溶性的死亡素,本研究利用递归式PCR（recursive PCR, rPCR）扩增了死亡素基因thanatin,并将其和家蝇Musca domestica泛素基因ubiquitin构成嵌合基因,克隆到表达载体pET-32a,再与硫氧还蛋白融合后构建表达载体pET-TRX-UBI-THA。将酶切和测序鉴定正确的质粒转化表达宿主菌BL21,经0.6 mmol/L IPTG诱导,TRX-UBI-THA融合蛋白得到了高效可溶性表达。SDS-PAGE和Western blot检测结果表明融合蛋白的分子量为28.9 kD,与预期的结果一致,表达量占菌体总蛋白的46％。Western blot分析结果显示融合蛋白能与Ni-NTA鏊合物特异性的结合,表明在融合蛋白的N-端带有6×His标签。利用C-端带有6×His标签的泛素C-端水解酶对融合蛋白进行切割,切割产物经Ni²⁺-NTA亲和柱和HPLC纯化（纯化量为5.4 mg/L）,Tricince-SDS-PAGE电泳得到单一的泛素蛋白条带。电喷雾质谱(ESI-MS)分析表明,纯化的泛素分子量为2.57 kD,与通过氨基酸预测的分子量完全一致。利用琼脂孔穴扩散法对泛素活性进行检测,结果显示纯化的泛素对大肠杆菌K12D31和金黄色葡萄球菌Staphylococcus aureus具有较强的活性抑制。本研究表明,利用泛素融合技术可以高效表达可溶性的死亡素。     

A system for dual protein expression in Pichia pastoris and Escherichia coli

We have constructed a novel Pichia pastoris/Escherichia coli dual expression vector for the production of recombinant proteins in both host systems. In this vector, an E. coli T7 promoter region, including the ribosome binding site from the phage T7 major capsid protein for efficient translation is placed downstream from the yeast alcohol oxidase promoter (AOX). For detection and purification of the target protein, the vector contains an amino-terminal oligohistidine domain (His6) followed by the hemaglutinine epitope (HA) adjacent to the cloning sites. A P. pastoris autonomous replicating sequence (PARS) was integrated enabling simple propagation and recovery of plasmids from yeast and bacteria (1). In the present study, the expression of human proteins in P. pastoris and E. coli was compared using this single expression vector. For this purpose we have subcloned a cDNA expression library deriving from human fetal brain (2) into our dual expression T7 vector and investigated 96 randomly picked clones. After sequencing, 29 clones in the correct reading frame have been identified, their plasmids isolated and shuttled from yeast to bacteria. All proteins were expressed soluble in P. pastoris, whereas in E. coli only 31% could be purified under native conditions. Our data indicates that this dual expression vector allows the economic expression and purification of proteins in different hosts without subcloning.     

Bacterial expression and enzymatic activity analysis of ME1, a ribosome-inactivating protein from Mirabilis expansa

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are toxic proteins synthesized by many plants and some bacteria, that specifically depurinate the 28S RNA and thus interrupt protein translation. RIPs hold broad interest because of their potential use as plant defense factors against pathogens. However, study of the activity of type I RIPs has been hampered since their expression in Escherichia coli has typically been toxic to the model system. Mirabilis expansa, an Andean root crop, produces a type I RIP called ME1 in large quantities in its storage roots. In this study, the cDNA sequence of ME1 was used to successfully express the recombinant ME1 protein in E. coli. The production of recombinant ME1 in E. coli was confirmed by Western blot analysis using anti-ME1 antibodies. The studies with fluorescence-labeled ME1 showed that ME1 can enter bacteria and be distributed in the cytoplasm uniformly, indicating its ability to access the protein synthesis machinery of the bacteria. The recombinant enzyme was active and depurinated yeast ribosomes. However, both native and recombinant ME1 proteins failed to depurinate the E. coli ribosomes, explaining the non-toxicity of recombinant ME1 to E. coli. Structural modeling of ME1 showed that it has folding patterns similar to other RIPs, indicating that ME1 and PAP, which share a similar folding pattern, can show different substrate specificity towards E. coli ribosomes. The results presented here are very significant, as few reports are available in the area of bacterial interaction with type I RIPs.     

Amino acid misincorporation during high-level expression of mouse epidermal growth factor in Escherichia coli.

To determine whether the high-level expression of foreign proteins in Escherichia coli can lead to frequent translational errors, we analyzed amino acid misincorporation in mouse epidermal growth factor (mEGF) produced as a TrpE fusion protein. The mEGF DNA does not encode phenylalanine and determining the phenylalanine content of the purified protein will measure missense errors. Using this approach, we found an error frequency of about 1 in 40 for codons differing by a single base from those for phenylalanine. This is at least ten times higher than the error rate found for normal E. coli protein synthesis and may be due to limiting supply of charged tRNAs and GTP, brought about by the high-level production of the heterologous protein. The unexpectedly high error rate has implications for the clinical use of E. coli-derived therapeutic proteins.