Ubiquitin-intein and SUMO2-intein fusion systems for enhanced protein production and purification

Although most commonly used for protein production, expression of soluble and functional recombinant protein in Escherichia coli is still a major challenge. The development and application of fusion tags that can facilitate protein expression and solubility partly solve this problem, however, under most circumstance, the fusion tags have to be removed by proteases in order to use the proteins. Because the tag removal using proteases increases cost and introduces extra purification steps, it remains a significant problem that must be resolved before being widely used in industry production. Ubiquitin and SUMO have been successfully used to enhance protein expression and solubility. In the last decades, intein has also been widely used in protein production for its self-cleavage property, which could help to remove the fusion tag without any protease. Here, we take the advantages of ubiquitin, SUMO2 and intein in protein expression. We constructed tandem ubiquitin-intein and SUMO2-intein fusion tags, and chose human MMP13 (amino acid 104-274) and eGFP as the passenger proteins that fused to the C-terminus of the tags. These constructs were expressed in E. coli and both MMP13 and eGFP expression and solubility were evaluated. Both tags showed the ability to enhance the solubility of MMP13 and eGFP and improve the expression of eGFP, and the SUMO2-intein having a more significant effect. Both ubiquitin-intein-eGFP and SUMO2-intein-eGFP were purified using Ni-NTA column chromatography and self-cleavaged by changing pH. The recombinant un-tagged eGFP were released and eluted with high homogeneity. In summary, ubiquitin-intein and SUMO2-intein are convenient and useful fusion tags that can enhance the expression, solubility and improve the purification process of the model heterologous protein and these tags may have a good prospect in protein production.     

Electrostatic interaction-induced inclusion body formation of glucagon-like peptide-1 fused with ubiquitin and cationic tag

In an attempt to produce glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) using recombinant Escherichia coli, ubiquitin (Ub) as a fusion partner was fused to GLP-1 with the 6-lysine tag (K6) for simple purification. Despite the high solubility of ubiquitin, the fusion protein K6UbGLP-1 was expressed mainly as insoluble inclusion bodies in E. coli. In order to elucidate this phenomenon, various N- and C-terminal truncates and GLP-1 mutants of K6UbGLP-1 were constructed and analyzed for their characteristics by various biochemical and biophysical methods. The experiment results obtained in this study clearly demonstrated that the insoluble aggregation of K6UbGLP-1 was attributed to the electrostatic interaction between the N-terminal 6-lysine tag and the C-terminal GLP-1 before the completion of folding which might be one of the reasons for protein misfolding frequently observed in many foreign proteins introduced with charged amino acid residues such as the His tag and the protease recognition sites. The application of a cation exchanger for neutralizing the positive charge of the 6-lysine tag in solid-phase refolding of K6UbGLP-1 successfully suppressed the electrostatic interaction-driven aggregation even at a high protein concentration, resulting in properly folded K6UbGLP-1 for GLP-1 production.     

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。     

SUMO基因的内在原核启动子活性及其在大肠杆菌蛋白表达系统中的应用

SUMO融合系统已成为目前大肠杆菌重组蛋白生产的重要手段,但在载体构建效率和蛋白可溶性等方面仍有待改进。本研究在PCR克隆酿酒酵母SUMO基因Smt3(Sm) 时意外发现Sm具有组成型原核启动子活性;而且经软莓BPROM程序预测发现大多数物种SUMO基因编码区都具有依赖s70的原核启动子。进一步通过整合Sm启动子和Sm 3￠末端StuⅠ位点特性以及引入His标签和超酸增溶标签,构建了基于Sm’-LacZα融合基因的一系列通用克隆表达载体,并通过蓝白斑筛选和SDS-PAGE分析进行了多个靶蛋白基因的克隆和表     

Comparison of SUMO fusion technology with traditional gene fusion systems: enhanced expression and solubility with SUMO

Despite the availability of numerous gene fusion systems, recombinant protein expression in Escherichia coli remains difficult. Establishing the best fusion partner for difficult-to-express proteins remains empirical. To determine which fusion tags are best suited for difficult-to-express proteins, a comparative analysis of the newly described SUMO fusion system with a variety of commonly used fusion systems was completed. For this study, three model proteins, enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), matrix metalloprotease-13 (MMP13), and myostatin (growth differentiating factor-8, GDF8), were fused to the C termini of maltose-binding protein (MBP), glutathione S-transferase (GST), thioredoxin (TRX), NUS A, ubiquitin (Ub), and SUMO tags. These constructs were expressed in E. coli and evaluated for expression and solubility. As expected, the fusion tags varied in their ability to produce tractable quantities of soluble eGFP, MMP13, and GDF8. SUMO and NUS A fusions enhanced expression and solubility of recombinant proteins most dramatically. The ease at which SUMO and NUS A fusion tags were removed from their partner proteins was then determined. SUMO fusions are cleaved by the natural SUMO protease, while an AcTEV protease site had to be engineered between NUS A and its partner protein. A kinetic analysis showed that the SUMO and AcTEV proteases had similar KM values, but SUMO protease had a 25-fold higher kcat than AcTEV protease, indicating a more catalytically efficient enzyme. Taken together, these results demonstrate that SUMO is superior to commonly used fusion tags in enhancing expression and solubility with the distinction of generating recombinant protein with native sequences.     

Expression of Antimicrobial Peptide (AMP), Cecropin B,in a Fused Form to SUMO Tag With or Without Three-Glycine Linker in Escherichia coli and Evaluation of Bacteriolytic Activity of the Purified AMP

Current antibiotics have limited action mode, which makes it difficult for the antibiotics dealing with the emergence of bacteria resisting the existing antibiotics. As a need for new bacteriolytic agents alternative to the antibiotics, AMPs have long been considered substitutes for the antibiotics. Cecropin B was expressed in a fusion form to six-histidine and SUMO tags in Escherichia coli. Six-histidine tag attached to SUMO was for purification of SUMO-cecropin B fusion proteins and removal of the SUMO tag from cecropin B. Chimeric gene was constructed into pKSEC1 vector that was designed to be functional in both Escherichia coli and chloroplast. To maximize translation of the fusion protein, sequences were codon-optimized. Four different constructs were tested for the level of expression and solubility, and the construct with a linker, 6xHisSUMO3xGly-cecropin B, showed the highest expression. In addition, cleavage of the SUMO tag by SUMOase in the three fusion constructs which have no linker sequence (3xGly, three glycines) was not as efficient as the construct with the linker between SUMO and cecropin B. The cleaved cecropin B showed bacteriolytic activity against Bacillus subtilis at a concentration of 0.0625 μg/μL, while cecropin B fused to SUMO had no activity at a higher concentration, 0.125 μg/μL. As an expression system for AMPs in prokaryotic hosts, the use of tag proteins and appropriate codon-optimization strategy can be employed and further genetic modification of the fusion construct should help the complete removal of the tag proteins from the AMP in the final step of purification.

     

The refolding, purification, and activity analysis of a rice Bowman-Birk inhibitor expressed in Escherichia coli

A putative rice trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor of the Bowman-Birk family, RBBI-8 of about 20 kDa, was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein bearing an N-terminal (His)6 purification tag. The expressed recombinant protein, rRBBI-8, is insoluble and accumulates as inclusion bodies. The insoluble protein was solubilized in 8 M urea under reducing environment and then refolded into its active conformation under optimized redox conditions. Strategies used to optimize yield and efficiency include selecting the redox system, increasing protein concentration during refolding by adding the denatured protein in a stepwise way, utilizing additives to prevent aggregation, and selecting buffer-exchanging conditions. A Ni-chelate affinity column was then employed to purify the renatured protein. rRBBI-8 shows strong inhibitory activity against trypsin and it can slightly inhibit chymotrypsin. In this study, a refolding and purification system was set up for this cysteine-rich recombinant protein expressed in a prokaryotic system.     

Enhanced protein expression in the baculovirus/insect cell system using engineered SUMO fusions

Recombinant protein expression in insect cells varies greatly from protein to protein. A fusion tag that is not only a tool for detection and purification, but also enhances expression and/or solubility would greatly facilitate both structure/function studies and therapeutic protein production. We have shown that fusion of SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) to several test proteins leads to enhanced expression levels in Escherichia coli. In eukaryotic expression systems, however, the SUMO tag could be cleaved by endogenous desumoylase. In order to adapt SUMO-fusion technology to these systems, we have developed an alternative SUMO-derived tag, designated SUMOstar, which is not processed by native SUMO proteases. In the present study, we tested the SUMOstar tag in a baculovirus/insect cell system with several proteins, i.e. mouse UBP43, human tryptase beta II, USP4, USP15, and GFP. Our results demonstrate that fusion to SUMOstar enhanced protein expression levels at least 4-fold compared to either the native or His(6)-tagged proteins. We isolated active SUMOstar tagged UBP43, USP4, USP15, and GFP. Tryptase was active following cleavage with a SUMOstar specific protease. The SUMOstar system will make significant impact in difficult-to-express proteins and especially to those proteins that require the native N-terminal residue for function.     

SUMO蛋白酶活性片段的表达、纯化及活性测定

利用PCR技术人工合成编码酿酒酵母泛素样特异性蛋白酶1 (Ubiquitin-like specific protease 1,Ulp1)第403到621个氨基酸残基之间的DNA片段Ulp1p,并连接到大肠杆菌表达载体pET-3c中,构建出重组表达质粒pET-Ulp1p。将重组质粒转化至大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中,氨苄青霉素抗性筛选转化子。经IPTG诱导4h后, SDS-PAGE结果显示,Ulp1p为可溶性表达,表达量占菌体总蛋白的50.8%。通过Ni-NTA凝胶亲和层析和G-25凝胶层析联用可以获得纯度大于95%的Ulp1p。Western-blotting分析表明,Ulp1p能与6xHis抗体产生免疫反应。以重组蛋白SUMO-hEGF(人表皮生长因子)和GST-SUMO-MT(金属硫蛋白)为底物进行酶切分析,结果显示,Ulp1p能特异性水解这两种SUMO融合蛋白,其比活为1.386 x104U/mg。     

Prokaryotic Ubiquitin-Like ThiS Fusion Enhances the Heterologous Protein Overexpression and Aggregation in Escherichia coli

Fusion tags are commonly employed to enhance target protein expression, improve their folding and solubility, and reduce protein degradation in expression of recombinant proteins. Ubiquitin (Ub) and SUMO are highly conserved small proteins in eukaryotes, and frequently used as fusion tags in prokaryotic expression. ThiS, a smaller sulfur-carrier protein involved in thiamin synthesis, is conserved among most prokaryotic species. The structural similarity between ThiS and Ub provoked us into expecting that the former could be used as a fusion tag. Hence, ThiS was fused to insulin A and B chains, murine Ribonuclease Inhibitor (mRI) and EGFP, respectively. When induced in Escherichia coli, ThiS-fused insulin A and B chains were overexpressed in inclusion bodies, and to higher levels in comparison to the same proteins fused with Ub. On the contrast, ThiS fusion of mRI, an unstable protein, resulted in enhanced degradation that was not alleviated in protease-deficient strains. While the degradation of Ub- and SUMO-fused mRI was less and seemed protease-dependent. Enhanced degradation of mRI did not occur for the fusions with half-molecules of ThiS. When ThiS-tag was fused to the C-terminus of EGFP, higher expression, predominantly in inclusion bodies, was observed again. It was further found that ThiS fusion of EGFP significantly retarded its refolding process. These results indicated that prokaryotic ThiS is able to promote the expression of target proteins in E. coli, but enhanced degradation may occur in case of unstable targets. Unlike eukaryotic Ub-based tags usually increase the solubility and folding of proteins, ThiS fusion enhances the expression by augmenting the formation of inclusion bodies, probably through retardation of the folding of target proteins.     

低分子量麦谷蛋白基因XYGluD3-LMWGS1原核表达增溶体系的探索

为研究SUMO标签增溶体系和小麦低分子量麦谷蛋白亚基功能,利用SUMO标签构建XYGluD3-LM-WGS基因原核表达可溶性增强的系统,采用PCR方法从已有质粒XYGluD3-LMWGS1/pGEM-Teasy中克隆到该基因不含上游启动子片段XYGluD3-LMWGS1-no Promoter 798 bp(简称LnoP),构建原核表达载体LnoP/pGEX-4T-1,并借助已有质粒SUMO1/pET-41a( )构建原核表达载体LnoP-SUMO1/pET-41a( )与LnoP-SUMO1-N2/pET-41a( )以及LnoP-SUMO1/pET-32a( ),分别诱导表达融合蛋白分析其可溶性,结果显示;(1)融合蛋白GST-LnoP、GST-SUMO1-LnoP、SUMO1-LnoP和Trx-SUMO1-LnoP表达成功;(2)电泳和Western blot分析显示,GST-LnoP和GST-SUMO1-LnoP的可溶蛋白表达均为电泳不可见,SUMO1-LnoP与Trx-SUMO1-LnoP有微量可溶表达.结果表明,试验首次实现人的SUMO1标签在麦谷蛋白低分子量亚基中的融合表达;尽管人的SUMO1做为融合标签对于增加低分子量麦谷蛋白D位点亚基可溶性的作用并未达到预期效果,但研究结果为SUMO标签增溶体系的建立和小麦低分子量麦谷蛋白亚基功能研究奠定了基础.     

GST-HRB融合蛋白的表达与纯化

构建GST-HRB重组质粒,进行融合蛋白的表达、纯化及鉴定.利用PCR扩增及基因重组技术,以pcDNA-3.1-HRB为模板扩增出HRB全基因序列,并将其插入带有GST(谷胱甘肽巯基转移酶)标签的原核表达载体pGEX-6P-1中,构建GST-HRB融合蛋白表达质粒.然后,将重组质粒GST-HRB转化至大肠杆菌Rosseta进行融合蛋白的表达.利用GST琼脂糖珠进行融合蛋白的纯化,最后应用SDS-PAGE电泳和Western blotting鉴定纯化的融合蛋白.结果表明,成功构建pGEX-6P-1-HRB原核表达载体,表达及纯化了GST-HRB融合蛋白.     

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.     

蓝藻抗病毒蛋白-N基因的克隆、表达、纯化及活性鉴定

蓝藻抗病毒蛋白-N(Cyanovirin-N,CVN)具有强效抗HIV及其他包膜病毒活性,该蛋白序列特殊,难以重组制备,在大肠杆菌细胞质中形成包涵体。本研究根据大肠杆菌密码子偏好性对CVN原始核苷酸序列进行优化,通过多次PCR合成SUMO-CVN的全长DNA序列,构建pET3c-SUMO-CVN重组表达质粒,重组质粒转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),获得表达菌株。通过对诱导剂浓度和诱导时间的优化,发现以0.5mmol/LIPTG在20℃诱导24h可获得最高表达,SDS-PAGE结果显示,SUMO-CVN为可溶性表达,表达量占菌体总蛋白的28%;经特异性的SUMO蛋白酶对融合蛋白进行酶切及两步Ni-NTA凝胶亲和层析可以得到纯度较高的重组CVN蛋白。ELISA结果表明,重组蛋白CVN与gp120蛋白有较高的亲和力。体外抗病毒活性实验表明,重组蛋白CVN在纳摩尔浓度具有很好的抗HSV-1和HIV-1/ⅢB活性;这为开发基于CVN的新型、高效抗病毒药物打下了基础。     

Expression and purification of lacticin Q by small ubiquitin-related modifier fusion in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

Lacticin Q is a broad-spectrum class II bacteriocin with potential as an alternative to conventional antibiotics. The objective of this study was to produce recombinant lacticin Q using a small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) fusion protein expression system. The 168-bp lacticin Q gene was cloned into the expression vector pET SUMO and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The soluble fusion protein was recovered with a Ni-NTA Sepharose column (95% purity); 130 mg protein was obtained per liter of fermentation culture. The SUMO tag was then proteolytically cleaved from the protein, which was re-applied to the column. Finally, about 32 mg lacticin Q (≥96% purity) was obtained. The recombinant protein exhibited antimicrobial properties similar to that of the native protein, demonstrating that lacticin Q had been successfully expressed by the SUMO fusion system.     

Expression and purification of human urodilatin by small ubiquitin-related modifier fusion in Escherichia coli

To prevent in vivo degradation, small peptides are usually expressed in fusion proteins from which target peptides can be released by proteolytic or chemical reagents. In this report, small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) linked with a hexa-histidine tag was used as a fusion partner for the production of recombinant human urodilatin, a hormone for the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure. The fusion protein, which was overexpressed mainly as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli, constituted about 25% of the total cell proteins. After purification by Ni-sepharose affinity chromatography and renaturation in refolding buffer, the fusion protein was cleaved with SUMO protease 1. Urodilatin was separated from the fusion partner by the subtractive chromatography using Ni-sepharose once again, and then further purified with reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. In vitro activity assay demonstrated that the recombinant urodilatin had a potent vasodilatory effect on rabbit aortic strips with an EC₅₀ of 1.77 ± 0.53 μg/ml, which was similar to that of the synthetic urodilatin standard. The expression strategy presented in this study allows convenient high yield and easy purification of small recombinant peptides with native sequences. Z. Sun and Z. Xia contribute equally to the work.     

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。     

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。     

Expression and preparation of recombinant hepcidin in Escherichia coli

Hepcidin is a low-molecular-weight, highly disulfide bonded peptide relevant to small intestine iron absorption and body iron homeostasis. In this work, hepcidin was expressed in Escherichia coli as a 10.5 kDa fusion protein (His-hepcidin) with a N-terminal hexahistidine tag. The expressed His-hepcidin existed in the form of inclusion bodies and was purified by IMAC under denaturation condition. Since the fusion partner for hepcidin did not contain other cysteine residues, the formation of disulfide bonds was performed before the His-tag was removed. Then, the oxidized His-hepcidin monomer was separated from protein multimers through gel filtration. Following monomer refolding, hepcidin was cleaved from fusion protein by enterokinase and purified with reverse-phase chromatography. The recombinant hepcidin exhibited obvious antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis.