Overexpression and purification of the recombinant diphtheria toxin variant CRM197 in Escherichia coli

The expression of the recombinant diphtheria toxin mutant CRM197 in bacteria other than Corynebacterium diphtheriae has proven to be difficult. Here we propose a new and alternative procedure for the production of full-length CRM197 in Escherichia coli. The present study relates specifically to the expression of an artificial sequence and to a method for the isolation and purification of the corresponding protein. In particular, a synthetic gene coding for CRM197, bearing a short histidine tag and optimized for E. coli codon usage, was cloned in the pET9a vector. Accordingly, the over-expression of the protein was simply induced with arabinose in E. coli BL21AI. The recombinant protein was insoluble and always found inside protein aggregates, which were solubilised using urea. Surprisingly, the expression of CRM197, devoid of the short tag, always failed. Following a refolding step, the his-tagged CRM197 was purified by affinity and gel-filtration chromatography and the purity of the final preparation reached 95%. Interestingly, the recombinant protein features DNase activity, indicating that the presence of the tag is not affecting its biochemical properties. However, the removal of the synthetic tag could be easily obtained by incubating the target protein with a proper quantity of a commercial enterokinase.     

白喉毒素无毒突变体CRM197基因的克隆与表达

目的构建白喉毒素(Diphtheria toxin)无毒突变体CRM197(Cross-reacting materials 197)的原核表达载体,并在大肠杆菌中表达重组蛋白。方法以白喉杆菌(ATCC39255)基因组DNA为模版,采用聚合酶链式反应(Polymerase chain reaction,PCR)扩增CRM197基因,插入表达载体pET11b中,构建重组原核表达质粒pET11b-CRM197。经双酶切及测序鉴定正确后,重组质粒被转化入大肠杆菌Rosetta 2(DE3)pLysS,IPTG诱导表达,表达产物经SDS-PAGE和Western blot进行鉴定。结果重组表达质粒经双酶切及测序鉴定,结果表明与预期一致;表达的重组蛋白相对分子质量约58 000,并可与鼠抗CRM197单克隆抗体特异性结合。结论已成功构建了重组原核表达载体pET11b-CRM197,重组的CRM197蛋白在大肠杆菌中得到了表达,为以该重组突变体作蛋白载体制备结合疫苗奠定了基础。     

分子伴侣对白喉毒素无毒突变体CRM197重组蛋白在大肠杆菌中可溶性表达的促进作用

为了获得有活性的白喉毒素突变体蛋白 (Cross-reacting material 197,CRM197),本研究利用分子伴侣pG-KJE8与重组质粒pET28a-CRM197在大肠杆菌原核表达系统中进行共表达,来促进目的蛋白的正确折叠,进而提高CRM197蛋白的可溶性表达。将质粒转化至大肠杆菌后并诱导其表达目的蛋白,再通过SDS-PAGE胶染色、Western blotting等技术对所得蛋白进行检测分析。结果发现：利用体外重组技术成功得到了pET28a-CRM197重组蛋白原核表达质粒,且CRM197重组蛋白在原核表达系统中主要以包涵体形式表达;通过探索和优化,确定了诱导蛋白的最佳浓度和温度,当加入终浓度为1.0 mmol/L IPTG、0.5 mg/mL L-阿拉伯糖、5.0 ng/mL四环素,在20 ℃条件下诱导16 h时,目的蛋白的可溶性表达得到显著提高;可溶性表达的CRM197重组蛋白可以与CRM197一抗发生特异性结合,免疫反应性良好。因此,研究发现分子伴侣pG-KJE8可以促进CRM197重组蛋白在大肠杆菌中以可溶性形式表达,且能很好地与CRM197一抗发生特异性结合,证实CRM197重组蛋白具有良好的免疫反应性,为CRM197蛋白的工业化生产及应用奠定了一定的基础。     

High-level expression of a proteolytically sensitive diphtheria toxin fragment in Escherichia coli.

ABM508 is a recombinant fusion protein consisting of the N-terminal 485 amino acids of diphtheria toxin joined to alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. When expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of the tox promoter and signal sequence, ABM508 is severely degraded. When overexpressed from a thermoinducible lambda pR promoter fusion, ABM508 is largely insoluble. We compared the expression of ABM508 (501 amino acids) to a full-length mutant form of the toxin (CRM197; 535 amino acids) and found that CRM197 showed minimal proteolysis. Thus, the removal of the C-terminal 50 amino acids of the toxin destabilizes the protein, making it a target for proteases. Proteolysis of ABM508 could be reduced by removal of the tox signal sequence (thereby directing the protein to the cytoplasm) and growth in lon and htpR mutant strains of E. coli. We also showed that the solubility of tox gene products expressed in E. coli was directly related to the growth temperature of the culture. Thus, a fragment A fusion protein (223 amino acids), ABM508, and CRM197 were found in soluble extracts when expressed at 30 degrees C but could not be released by the same procedures after growth at 42 degrees C. On the basis of these observations, we fused the coding sequences for mature ABM508 to the trc promoter (inducible at 30 degrees C by isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside) and expressed this construct in a lon htpR strain of E. coli. This plasmid made 10 mg of soluble tox protein per liter of culture (7.7% of the total cell protein) or 14 times more than our previous maximal level. Extracts from lon htpR cells harboring this plasmid had high levels of ADP-ribosyltransferase activity, and although proteolysis still occurred, the major tox product corresponded to full-length ABM508.     

Expression and purification of the synthetic preS1 gene of Hepatitis B Virus with preferred Escherichia coli codon preference

To produce high levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) preS1 protein at low cost, a DNA fragment encoding the preS1 region, residues 1-119, of HBV adr subtype was synthesized by overlapping-PCR according to Escherichia coli (E. coli) B preferred codon usage. The synthetic preS1 gene (spreS1) was cloned into the bacterial expression vector pET-30a and transferred into the expression strain E. coli BL21(DE3). Recombinant preS1 protein with an N-terminal His6 tag was expressed at high levels in soluble form, yielding about 44% of the total cellular protein. This technique overcomes problems that existed in previously reported expression systems of preS1 or its epitope, i.e., low-level expression or expression in inclusion bodies. Using this His-tagged preS1 expression system, recombinant protein was purified by single-step affinity chromatography on a Ni-NTA column resulting in a yield was about 28 mg recombinant protein per liter culture. Furthermore, Western blotting and indirect ELISA analysis demonstrate that the reactivity of preS1-specific antibody is comparable between the recombinant and commercialized preS1 protein. Thus, our improved expression system could be used for practical, low-cost large-scale production of recombinant preS1 without refolding steps.     

白喉毒素突变体CRM197在大肠杆菌中表达纯化及性质研究

CRM197是一种白喉毒素突变体,作为载体蛋白广泛用于疫苗开发。将合成的CRM197基因片段克隆到表达载体pET25b中,转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),经IPTG诱导,CRM197获得高效表达,达到菌体总蛋白的20%。目的蛋白主要以包涵体形式存在,变性、复性后经DEAE阴离子交换、S-100分子筛纯化获得纯度高于95%的CRM197样品,用该蛋白样品免疫新西兰大白兔,免疫兔血清中检测到特异性抗体应答。急性毒性试验中,每只豚鼠皮下注射200μgCRM197纯化样品,未出现明显毒性反应症状,与之相比较,注射后48h内,20ng白喉毒素阳性对照组动物全部死亡。结果表明,利用本试验的表达策略,CRM197得到高效表达,并且具有良好的免疫原性和安全性,为其进一步生产及应用奠定基础。     

利用EDA融合标签高效表达猪圆环病毒2型壳蛋白

原核生物作为宿主细胞被广泛应用于异源蛋白质的重组表达,并且为生物活性蛋白质的制备提供了一种高效、经济的方法,因而在分子生物学中得到普遍的应用。然而,病毒蛋白在使用原核重组表达系统进行重组表达时,会出现病毒蛋白溶解性差和表达量低等问题。因此,通过使用各种融合标签以增加目的重组蛋白的表达量和溶解性成为有效的方法。本研究通过使用3种融合标签（EDA标签、MBP标签和GST标签）以获得表达量高的可溶性重组表达猪圆环病毒2型壳蛋白;并比较3种融合标签对该蛋白表达量、溶解性和稳定性的影响。研究结果表明,EDA标签可以显著提高重组表达的猪圆环病毒2型壳蛋白表达量,并且能够增强该蛋白的稳定性;MBP标签可增强重组表达的猪圆环病毒2型壳蛋白表达量,但是不能改善该蛋白的稳定性;GST标签能够增强该重组表达蛋白的表达量,但是不能增强该蛋白的溶解性和稳定性。本研究将EDA作为PCV2-CP蛋白的融合标签,显著提高PCV2-CP-EDA重组蛋白的表达量和增强该重组蛋白的稳定性,为病毒蛋白的可溶性重组表达提供了一种新的融合标签。     

人肿瘤坏死因子α抑制肽-抗炎酸性尾巴融合蛋白的原核表达及纯化

目的:表达和纯化人肿瘤坏死因子α抑制肽-抗炎酸性尾巴融合蛋白。方法:利用PCR搭接方法及基因合成方法获得目的基因,插入带有6×His标签的原核高效可溶性表达载体pET32a中,构建重组表达质粒pET32a-T9-ac-9,将重组表达质粒转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),经IPTG诱导目的基因表达;对融合蛋白进行Ni2+金属螯合柱纯化。结果:构建的重组表达质粒经PCR、内切酶鉴定及基因序列测定证实;目的蛋白在大肠杆菌中获得表达,SDS-PAGE显示相对分子质量为22.917×103;对表达产物进行了亲和层析纯化,从上清中获得了纯度较高的人肿瘤坏死因子α抑制肽-抗炎酸性尾巴融合蛋白。结论:获得了可溶性的人肿瘤坏死因子α抑制肽-抗炎酸性尾巴融合蛋白,为其生物学功能研究奠定了基础。     

pCold-GST vector: a novel cold-shock vector containing GST tag for soluble protein production

The production of recombinant protein in Escherichia coli is often hampered by low expression levels and low solubility. A variety of methodologies have been developed including protein production at low temperature, and fusion protein expression using soluble protein tags. Here, we present the novel cold-shock vector pCold-GST for high-level expression of soluble proteins in E. coli. This vector is a modified pCold I cold-shock vector that includes the glutathione S-transferase (GST) tag. The pCold-GST expression system developed was applied to 10 proteins that could not be expressed using conventional E. coli expression methodologies, and nine of these proteins were successfully obtained in the soluble fraction. The expression and purification of two unstable protein fragments were also demonstrated by employing a C-terminal hexa-histidine tag for purification purposes. The purified proteins were amenable to NMR analyses. These data suggest that the pCold-GST expression system can be utilized to improve the expression and purification of various proteins.     

人vasorin蛋白的基因克隆、表达及纯化简

目的：克隆、表达人vasorin（VASN）蛋白。方法：利用PCR方法从HepG2细胞的cDNA中扩增获得目的基因,并插入带有6xHis标签的原核高效可溶性表达载体pET28a中,构建重组表达质粒pET28a-VASN,将重组表达质粒转化大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）,经IPTG诱导后目的基因获得表达,对融合目的蛋白进行Ni^2＋金属螯合柱纯化。结果：内切酶鉴定及基因序列测定证实重组表达质粒构建成功;对目的蛋白进行了原核表达,SDS-PAGE显示相对分子质量为61x10^3的特异表达条带;Western印迹证实目的蛋白为VASN,且主要以包涵体形式存在;对经尿素变性的表达产物进行了亲和层析纯化,有利于以后的变性、复性过程。结论：获得了人VASN融合蛋白,为其进一步的生物学功能研究奠定了基础。     

重组斑马鱼 p8蛋白的原核表达及纯化

目的：在大肠杆菌中重组表达斑马鱼p8蛋白并纯化。方法：PCR扩增斑马鱼p8蛋白基因编码区,连接到带有6×His标签的原核表达载体pET-28a中,构建重组表达质粒pET-28a-p8并转化大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）,用IPTG诱导表达;优化表达条件后用Ni^2＋柱纯化重组蛋白。结果：构建了pET-28a-p8重组质粒;目的蛋白在大肠杆菌中获得表达,亲和纯化后,SDS-PAGE显示相对分子质量为预期的12．8×10^3。结论：获得了斑马鱼p8融合蛋白,为其生物学功能研究奠定了基础。     

Molecular Cloning,Structural Modeling and the Production of Soluble Triple-Mutated Diphtheria Toxoid (K51E/G52E/E148K) Co-expressed with Molecular Chaperones in Recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

CRM197 is a diphtheria toxin (DT) mutant (G52E) which has been used as a carrier protein for conjugate vaccines. However, it still possesses cytotoxicity toward mammalian cells. The goal of this project was to produce a non-toxic and soluble CRM197EK through introduction of triple amino acid substitutions (K51E/G52E/E148K) in Escherichia coli. The expression of CRM197EKTrxHis was optimized and co-expressed with different molecular chaperones. The soluble CRM197EKTrxHis was produced at a high concentration (97.33 ± 17.47 μg/ml) under the optimal condition (induction with 0.1 mM IPTG at 20 °C for 24 h). Cells containing pG-Tf2, expressing trigger factor and GroEL-GroES, accumulated the highest amount of soluble CRM197EKTrxHis at 111.24 ± 10.40 μg/ml after induction for 24 h at 20 °C. The soluble CRM197EKTrxHis still possesses nuclease activity and completely digest λDNA at 25 and 37 °C with 8- and 4-h incubation, respectively. Molecular modeling of diphtheria toxin, CRM197 and CRM197EK indicated that substitutions of two amino acids (K51E/E148K) may cause poor NAD binding, consistent with the lack of toxicity. Therefore, CRM197EK might be used as a new potential carrier protein. However, further in vivo study is required to confirm its roles as functional carrier protein in conjugate vaccines.     

Facilitation of expression and purification of an antimicrobial peptide by fusion with baculoviral polyhedrin in Escherichia coli

Several fusion strategies have been developed for the expression and purification of small antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in recombinant bacterial expression systems. However, some of these efforts have been limited by product toxicity to host cells, product proteolysis, low expression levels, poor recovery yields, and sometimes an absence of posttranslational modifications required for biological activity. For the present work, we investigated the use of the baculoviral polyhedrin (Polh) protein as a novel fusion partner for the production of a model AMP (halocidin 18-amino-acid subunit; Hal18) in Escherichia coli. The useful solubility properties of Polh as a fusion partner facilitated the expression of the Polh-Hal18 fusion protein ( approximately 33.6 kDa) by forming insoluble inclusion bodies in E. coli which could easily be purified by inclusion body isolation and affinity purification using the fused hexahistidine tag. The recombinant Hal18 AMP ( approximately 2 kDa) could then be cleaved with hydroxylamine from the fusion protein and easily recovered by simple dialysis and centrifugation. This was facilitated by the fact that Polh was soluble during the alkaline cleavage reaction but became insoluble during dialysis at a neutral pH. Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was used to further purify the separated recombinant Hal18, giving a final yield of 30% with >90% purity. Importantly, recombinant and synthetic Hal18 peptides showed nearly identical antimicrobial activities against E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which were used as representative gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, respectively. These results demonstrate that baculoviral Polh can provide an efficient and facile platform for the production or functional study of target AMPs.     

Expression of a kallikrein-like protease from the snake venom: engineering of autocatalytic site in the fusion protein to facilitate protein refolding

In order to circumvent the difficulty encountered in the expression and purification of the recombinant products in E. coli system, we have developed a novel and facile method of removing the polyhistidine tag from target proteins after heterologous gene expression. The expression of a serine protease (Tm-5) from Taiwan habu (Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus) is taken as an exemplar to illustrate the basic rationales and protocols involved. In place of an enterokinase recognition site, a polyhistidine tag linked to an autocatalyzed site based on cleavage specificity of the serine protease flanking on the 5'-end of Tm-5 clone sequence was engineered before protein expression in E. coli system. Renaturation of the fusion protein after expression revealed that the recombinant protease had refolded successfully from the inclusion bodies. Upon autocleavage of the expressed protease, the polyhistidine tag with additional amino acid residues appended to the N-terminus of the coding sequence is found to be removed accordingly. The protein expressed and purified by this new strategy possesses a molecular weight of approximately 28,000 in accord with the expected value for this venom protease. Further characterization of the recombinant protein employing a variety of techniques which include immunoblot analysis, RP-HPLC, ESI-MS, and N-terminal amino acid sequencing all shows indistinguishable properties to those of the isolated native protease. Most noteworthy is that the recombinant Tm-5 protease also exhibits amidase activity against N-benzoyl-Pro-Phe-Arg-p-nitroanilide, a unique and strict substrate for native Tm proteases reported previously.     

蛋白酪氨酸激酶NOK／STYK1胞内区的表达与纯化

目的：酪氨酸蛋白激酶NOK／STYKl具有很强的促肿瘤形成和转移能力,被认为是很有前途的肿瘤治疗靶点。由于NOK含有一个跨膜区,且富含疏水性氨基酸,其表达和纯化非常困难,直接影响了对其功能及相关分子机理的深入研究。本研究目的是获得可溶的且纯度较高的NOK胞内区融合蛋白ANOK（AA：49—422）,为后续抗体的制备和功能研究奠定重要基础。方法：含有△NOK基因的原核表达载体,转入E-coliBL21中,IPTG诱导蛋白表达,通过亲和层析获得可溶的△NOK融合蛋白。融合蛋白经凝血酶酶切后,凝胶过滤层析分离标签蛋白获得z~NOK蛋白。同时,我们还通过Bac-to-Bac系统获得含有ANOK基因的杆状病毒,感染sO细胞,尝试在真核细胞中表达目的蛋白。结果：通过在sf9昆虫细胞和大肠杆菌表达系统中盐浓度等各种条件的摸索,首次获得了可溶的且纯度较高的NOK胞内区融合蛋白（ANOK—GST）和一定量去除标签的ANOK蛋白。本研究中与大肠杆菌相比,昆虫细胞并不适合△NOK的纯化。结论：我们建立了一套优化的NOK蛋白表达和纯化体系,从而为后续抗体制备和各种体内外生化实验等功能研究奠定基础,为研究NOK在肿瘤中的作用和药物筛选创造条件。同时丰富了整个RTKs家族作用机制的探索,进一步促进了以RTKs为靶点的治疗手段在临床上的应用。     

杆状病毒表达系统的改进及IL-6在昆虫细胞内的表达和纯化

使用同源重组方法,在昆虫细胞内将多角体启动子驱动的EGFP表达盒插入杆状病毒穿梭载体Bacmid的p74位相,经5轮空斑纯化获得重组穿梭载体Bacmid-egfp。然后将Bacmid-egfp转化含转座助手质粒的E.coliDH10B,获得受体菌E.coliDH10Bac-egfp,由于Bacmid-egfp保留了完整的转座结构和α互补功能,因此该菌株和原始E.coliDH10Bac一样能有效的利用各种pFastBac系列的载体进行转座并构建出能指示病毒繁殖和目的基因表达的重组病毒。使用红色荧光蛋白DsRed对系统进行了验证,结果表明重组病毒Bac-egfp-DsRed感染的细胞中绿色荧光蛋白和红色荧光蛋白均得到了高效表达。进一步使用该系统在昆虫细胞中高效表达并纯化了IL-6蛋白,为研究和应用该细胞因子提供物质基础,同时也进一步证明所改造的杆状病毒表达系统的可靠性和实用性。     

重组斑马鱼CD36蛋白的原核表达及纯化

目的：在大肠杆菌中重组表达斑马鱼CD36蛋白胞外区38～432氨基酸残基段并纯化。方法：PCR扩增斑马鱼CD36蛋白的基因编码区,连接到带有6~His标签的原核表达载体pET-28a中,构建重组表达质粒pET28a-CD36,并转化大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）,用IPTG诱导表达,优化表达条件后用Ni^2＋柱进行纯化。结果：构建了pET28a-CD36重组质粒;目的蛋白在大肠杆菌中获得表达,亲和纯化后,SDS-PAGE显示相对分子质量为预期的46．8×10^3。结论：获得了斑马鱼CD36融合蛋白,为其生物学功能研究奠定了基础。     

凋亡抑制因子Survivin的克隆、高效表达与纯化

Survivin蛋白抑制细胞的凋亡并参与调控细胞的分裂,在绝大多数肿瘤细胞中均有过量表达。本实验以人肝癌细胞系MHCC-97L总RNA为模板,应用RT-PCR的方法得到survivin cDNA,并构建了重组原核表达载体pET-21b(+)-survivin,导入BL21（DE3）菌株进行表达,表达产物以包涵体形式存在,表达量超过总蛋白的60%。Western blot结果表明表达产物与抗人survivin抗体发生特异性反应,经凝胶过滤层析后纯度达到95%以上,为进一步研究靶向Survivin的诊断试剂与抑制剂奠定了基础。     

Overproduction of anti-Tn antibody MLS128 single-chain Fv fragment in Escherichia coli cytoplasm using a novel pCold-PDI vector

Overproduction of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli is often hampered by their failure to fold correctly, leading to their accumulation within inclusion bodies. To overcome the problem, a variety of techniques aimed at soluble expression have been developed including low temperature expression and/or fusion of soluble tags and chaperones. However, a general protocol for bacterial expression of disulfide bond-containing proteins has hitherto not been established. Single chain Fv fragments (scFvs) are disulfide bond-containing proteins often difficult to express in soluble forms in E. coli. We here examine in detail the E. coli expression of a scFv originating from an anti-carbohydrate MLS128 antibody as a model system. We combine three techniques: (1) tagging scFv with thioredoxin, DsbC and protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), (2) expressing the proteins at low temperature using the pCold vector system, and (3) using Origami E. coli strains with mutations in the thioredoxin reductase and glutathione reductase genes. We observed a high expression level of soluble MLS128-scFv in the Origami strain only when PDI is used as a tag. The recombinant protein retains full binding activity towards synthetic carbohydrate antigens. The developed "pCold-PDI" vector has potential for overproduction of other scFvs and disulfide-containing proteins in the Origami strains.