Excretion of Human β-Endorphin into Culture Medium by Using Outer Membrane Protein F as a Fusion Partner in Recombinant Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli BL21 strains were found to excrete a large amount of outer membrane protein F (OmpF) into culture medium during high-cell-density cultivation. From this interesting phenomenon, a novel and efficient OmpF fusion system was developed for the excretion of recombinant proteins by E. coli. The ompF gene of E. coli BL21(DE3) was first knocked out by using the red operon of bacteriophage λ to construct E. coli MBEL-BL101. For the excretion of human β-endorphin as a model protein, the β-endorphin gene was fused to the C terminus of the E. coli ompF gene by using a linker containing the Factor Xa recognition site. To develop a fed-batch culture condition that allows efficient production of OmpF-β-endorphin fusion protein, three different feeding strategies, an exponential feeding strategy and two pH-stat strategies with defined and complex nutrient feeding solutions, were examined. Among these, the pH-stat feeding strategy with the complex nutrient feeding solution resulted in the highest productivity (0.33 g of protein per liter per h). Under this condition, up to 5.6 g of OmpF-β-endorphin fusion protein per liter was excreted into culture medium. The fusion protein was purified by anion-exchange chromatography and cleaved by Factor Xa to yield β-endorphin, which was finally purified by reverse-phase chromatography. From 2.7 liters of culture supernatant, 545.4 mg of β-endorphin was obtained.     

Secretion into the culture medium of a foreign gene product from Escherichia coli: use of the ompF gene for secretion of human beta-endorphin.

The ompF gene codes for a major outer membrane protein of Escherichia coli. A plasmid was constructed in which the structural gene for human beta-endorphin is preceded by the upstream region of the ompF gene consisting of the promoter region and the coding regions for the signal peptide and the N terminus of the OmpF protein. When the plasmid was introduced into E. coli N99, and OmpF-beta-endorphin fused peptide was synthesized and secreted into the culture medium through both the cytoplasmic and outer membranes. The OmpF signal peptide was cleaved correctly during the secretion, indicating that the export of the fused protein across the cytoplasmic membrane was dependent on the signal peptide. The secretion into the culture medium was apparently selective. Neither beta-lactamase nor alkaline phosphatase (both are periplasmic proteins) appeared in the culture medium in significant amounts. The mode of passage of the fused peptide across the outer membrane is discussed.     

含有Fxa切割位点的抗菌肽X在大肠杆菌中的融合表达

抗菌肽是昆虫体液免疫的重要成分[1,2 ] ,它们的分子量较小 ,具有抗菌、抗病毒和杀伤某些肿瘤细胞的功能 ,而不破坏人体正常细胞。基于它的这种选择性效应和分子小、无抗原性的特点 ,可望成为新一代的抗菌、抗肿瘤药物。然而 ,天然抗菌肽来源十分困难 ,不能满足研究和临床应用的需要 ,通过基因工程技术生产抗菌肽已成为人们普遍关注的焦点。抗菌肽ＣＭＩＶ是从家蚕蛹中分离并测定了其一级结构的新型抗菌肽 ,它由 35个氨基酸组成 ,不含甲硫氨酸 ,Ｃ 末端为酰胺[3 ] 。抗菌肽Ｘ是中国家蚕抗菌肽ＣＭＩＶ的变体 ,其一级结构与天然的抗菌肽ＣＭ…     

人α防御素5在大肠杆菌中的可溶性表达与纯化研究

采用PCR扩增大肠杆菌偏好的人α防御素5成熟肽(mHD-5)密码子序列, 并将其克隆至pMAL-p2x质粒, 构建pMAL-p2x-mHD-5表达载体, 转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3), 诱导表达, SDS-PAGE分析目的蛋白表达量并优化表达条件。经亲和层析、酶切和离子交换层析等方法分离、纯化重组mHD-5(rmHD-5)多肽。采用浊度法测定rmHD-5对细菌的抑制活性。通过优化表达条件, 获得约30%的可溶性目的蛋白表达量, 并成功纯化rmHD-5。rmHD-5对大肠杆菌标准菌株(ATCC25922)具有较强的抑制活性, 在终浓度为62.5mg/mL时, 90%以上的细胞被抑制。结果表明采用可溶性融合表达策略, 在原核表达系统中诱导表达并纯化具有生物活性的防御素是可行的途径之一。     

Expression of human parathyroid hormone-(1-84) in Escherichia coli as a factor X-cleavable fusion protein

Recombinant human parathyroid hormone (hPTH)-(1-84) was obtained from Escherichia coli using a cleavable fusion protein strategy. The fusion protein contains residues 1-138 of human growth hormone as the amino-terminal region and residues 1-84 of hPTH as the carboxyl-terminal region. A 7-residue linker containing the recognition/cleavage sequence of the site-specific blood coagulation protease activated factor X (factor Xa) joins the two regions. Intact hPTH-(1-84) is released from this fusion protein by cleavage in vitro with factor Xa. The fusion protein was produced at a high level and formed inclusion bodies which allowed it to be easily purified by low speed centrifugation, with a yield of approximately 50 mg/liter of culture. After factor Xa cleavage and high performance liquid chromatography purification, highly purified hPTH was obtained, with a final yield of 1.5-3 mg/liter. Physical and biological characterization of the purified hormone demonstrated that it was intact and active hPTH-(1-84).     

Cloning and expression in E. coli of a synthetic gene for the bacteriocidal protein caltrin/seminalplasmin

A synthetic gene coding for the bacteriocidal protein caltrin/seminalplasmin was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion with beta-galactosidase. The gene was designed with a recognition site for the plasma protease, Factor Xa, coded for immediately prior to the N-terminus of caltrin. The beta-galactosidase-caltrin fusion protein was cleaved with Factor Xa to give caltrin, which was identified by its size on SDS-PAGE, its ability to react with an antiserum raised to the N-terminal nonapeptide of caltrin and its N-terminal amino acid sequence. After partial purification, synthetic caltrin was found to be active in an assay involving inhibition of growth of E.coli.     

Overexpression of Arylsulfate Sulfotransferase as Fusion Protein with GlutathioneS-Transferase

A procedure has been developed for the overexpression and purification of milligram quantities of theKlebsiellaK-36 arylsulfate sulfotransferase (ASST). The structural gene was amplified by means of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and inserted into the plasmid vector pGEX-3X. The plasmid pGEX-100, carrying theKlebsiellaK-36astAstructural gene under the control of theEscherichia coli tacpromoter, was transformed into theE. colistrain BL21 (DE3). The ASST was produced inE. colias a fusion with glutathioneS-transferase. Conditions for protein production, isolation on glutathione Sepharose 4B, and Xa cleavage to generate active ASST were developed. The purification yielded approximately 0.7 mg of pure enzyme per liter of bacterial culture. Kinetic analysis of the overexpressed enzyme indicated that it had kinetic properties almost the same as those of the enzyme purified fromKlebsiellaK-36 cells. The purification procedure was very rapid and is suitable for obtaining considerable amounts of enzyme at a relatively high yield compared with its purifying method from the culture of theKlebsiellaK-36 strain.     

The function of micF RNA. micF RNA is a major factor in the thermal regulation of OmpF protein in Escherichia coli

The role of chromosomally derived micF RNA as a repressor of outer membrane protein OmpF of Escherichia coli was examined for various growth conditions. Levels of micF RNA as determined by Northern analyses are found to increase in response to cell growth at high temperature, in high osmolarity or in the presence of ethanol. After a switch to higher growth temperature, the levels of ompF mRNA and of newly synthesized OmpF decrease with time in E. coli strain, MC4100 but these decreases are not observed in isogenic micF deletion strain, SM3001. In addition, while levels of ompF mRNA are substantially reduced in both strains in response to high osmolarity or ethanol at 24 degrees C, the reduced levels in the parental strain are still 4-5-fold lower compared with the micF deletion strain. These findings indicate that chromosomally derived micF RNA plays a major role in the thermal regulation of OmpF and represses OmpF synthesis in response to several environmental signals by decreasing the levels of ompF mRNA. Analyses of the effect of a multicopy micF plasmid on the levels of OmpF and ompF mRNA after an increase in temperature indicated that multicopies of micF RNA markedly inhibited OmpF synthesis but did not accentuate ompF mRNA decrease. These data suggest that multicopy micF inhibits OmpF synthesis primarily through translational inactivation of ompF mRNA and that a limiting factor in addition to micF RNA is necessary to destabilize ompF mRNA.     

钩端螺旋体liprmA基因的表达及其产物的纯化与功能分析

以钩端螺旋体基因组DNA为模板,通过酶联聚合反应（PCR）得到钩端螺旋体中prmA的同源基因liprmA的全基因编码序列,并克隆到原核表达载体pET22b中。通过优化大肠杆菌培养和诱导条件,含目的蛋白的融合蛋白可溶表达量达到40 mg/L,约占菌体总蛋白的40%。经Ni-NTA His Bind亲和柱纯化,得到纯度大于95%的目的蛋白。氨基酸序列同源性分析显示liPrmA与原核生物和真核生物的核糖体蛋白L11甲基化转移酶的功能域一级结构高度一致;活性分析显示,纯化的liPrmA有钩端螺旋体核糖体蛋白L11甲基化转移酶的活性。     

Osmoregulatory expression of porin genes in Escherichia coli: a comparative study on strains B and K-12

Escherichia coli K-12 produces both the OmpF and OmpC porins, the relative amounts of which in the outer membrane are affected in a reciprocal manner by the osmolarity of the growth medium. In contrast, E. coli B produces only the OmpF porin, regardless of the medium osmolarity. In this study, it was revealed that there is an extensive deletion within the ompC locus of the E. coli B chromosome. Cloning and nucleotide sequencing of the regulatory gene, ompR , of E. coli B revealed that there are two amino acid alterations (Lys-6 to Asn and Ala-130 to Thr) in the amino acid sequence of the OmpR protein, as compared with that of E. coli K-12. It is suggested that these particular amino acid alterations are responsible for the constitutive expression of the ompF gene observed in E. coli B.     

Overexpression and purification of recombinant membrane PsbH protein in Escherichia coli

In this work, we featured an expression system that enables the production of sufficient quantities ( approximately mg) of low molecular weight membrane protein of photosystem II, PsbH protein, for solid-state NMR as well as other biophysical studies. PsbH gene from cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was cloned into a plasmid expression vector, which allowed expression of the PsbH protein as a glutathione-S transferase (GST) fusion protein in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells. A relatively large GST anchor overcomes foreseeable problems with the low solubility of membrane proteins and the toxicity caused by protein incorporation into the membrane of the host organism. As a result, the majority of fusion protein was obtained in a soluble state and could be purified from crude bacterial lysate by affinity chromatography on immobilized glutathione under non-denaturing conditions. The PsbH protein was cleaved from the carrier protein with Factor Xa protease and purified on DEAE-cellulose column with yields of up to 2.1 microg protein/ml of bacterial culture. The procedure as we optimized is applicable for isolation of small membrane proteins for structural studies.     

Expression of human metallothionein III and its metalloabsorption capability in Escherichia coli

Human metallothionein III (MT III) gene was synthesized with Escherichia coli preference codon usage and expressed in E. coli in glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fusion form. The recombinant MT III was released by proteinase Factor Xa digestion and purified with the yield of 2 mg/L culture, and its specific Cd2+ binding capability was confirmed. E. coli strain BL21(DE3), expressing MT III, showed metal tolerance between 0.1 and 0.5 mM Cd2+ and bacterial growth was inhibited at 1 mM Cd2+. MT III expressing E. coli strain showed binding discrimination between different metal ions in combination use, with the preference order of Cd2+ > Cu2+ > Zn2+. It absorbed different metal ions with relatively constant ratio and showed a cumulative absorption capability for mixed heavy metals.     

人α防御素5在大肠杆菌中的可溶性表达与纯化研究

采用PCR扩增大肠杆菌偏好的人α防御素5成熟肽(mHD-5)密码子序列, 并将其克隆至pMAL-p2x质粒, 构建pMAL-p2x-mHD-5表达载体, 转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3), 诱导表达, SDS-PAGE分析目的蛋白表达量并优化表达条件。经亲和层析、酶切和离子交换层析等方法分离、纯化重组mHD-5(rmHD-5)多肽。采用浊度法测定rmHD-5对细菌的抑制活性。通过优化表达条件, 获得约30%的可溶性目的蛋白表达量, 并成功纯化rmHD-5。rmHD-5对大肠杆菌标准菌株(ATCC25922)具有较强的抑制活性, 在终浓度为62.5mg/mL时, 90%以上的细胞被抑制。结果表明采用可溶性融合表达策略, 在原核表达系统中诱导表达并纯化具有生物活性的防御素是可行的途径之一。