Stringent regulation and high-level expression of heterologous genes in Escherichia coli using T7 system controllable by the araBAD promoter

The recombinant Eschreichia coli strain BL21 (BAD) was constructed to carry a chromosomal copy of T7 gene 1 fused to the araBAD promoter. To further characterize this expression system, strain BL21 (BAD) was transformed with the plasmid containing the carbamoylase gene from Agrobacterium radiobacter driven by the T7 promoter. Upon induction with L-arabinose, recombinant cells produced 100-fold increase in carbamoylase activity in comparison with uninduced cells on M9 semidefined medium plus glycerol. This protein yield accounts for 30% of total cell protein content. In addition, it was found that after 100 generations the plasmid harboring the carbamoylase gene remained firmly stable in strain BL21 (BAD), but its stability dropped to only 20-30% in strain BL21 (DE3), a commercial strain bearing T7 gene 1 regulated by the lacUV5 promoter in its chromosome. In an attempt to enhance the total protein yield, fed-batch fermentation process was carried out using a two-stage feeding strategy to compartmentalize cell growth and protein synthesis. In the batch fermentation stage, the culture was grown on glucose to reach the stationary growth phase. Subsequently, glycerol was fed to the culture broth and L-arabinose was augmented to induce protein production when cells entered the late log growth phase. As a result, a carbamoylase yield corresponding to 5525 units was obtained, which amounts to a 337-fold increase over that achieved on a shake-flask scale. Taken together, these results illustrate the practical usefulness of T7 system under control of the araBAD promoter for heterologous protein production.     

联合β-半乳糖苷酶和L-阿拉伯糖异构酶法合成D-塔格糖的研究

将大肠杆菌K-12中的B-半乳糖苷酶基因lacZ和L-阿拉伯糖异构酶基因araA以串联方式克隆到载体pET-28a（＋）上,并转入大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）中进行表达。通过SDS—PAGE分析发现,重组菌株能表达出大量可溶性B．半乳糖苷酶蛋白和L-阿拉伯糖异构酶蛋白。以重悬菌液为酶源,可将乳糖降解为D-半乳糖,并将D-半乳糖转化为D-塔格糖。在温度为50℃,pH7．0的缓冲液中,经一段时间反应后,D-塔格糖的转化率可达21％以上。加入Mn^2＋、Co^2＋和Fe^2＋均能够使D-塔格糖的转化率提高。     

精氨酸脱亚胺酶在大肠杆菌中的分泌型表达

将变形假单胞菌的精氨酸脱亚胺酶(ADI)编码基因arc A克隆至具有阿拉伯糖启动子的分泌型表达载体pBAD/gⅢB中,经鉴定得到重组质粒pBAD-ADI。将重组质粒转化大肠杆菌TOP10F'后进行诱导表达,分别考察了不同诱导物L-arabinose浓度、诱导温度、诱导时间对重组蛋白表达的影响,最适诱导条件为L-arabinose浓度0.002%(w/v),25℃下诱导5 h,全细胞的酶活为68 mU/mL(指单位发酵液体积,下同)。采用Osmotic Shock法使ADI从胞周质释放出来,经检测分泌到胞周质的重组蛋白活性为53 mU/mL,细胞内的酶活为34 mU/mL。SDS-PAGE分析显示,重组蛋白大小约为46 kD。     

Improving the yield of soluble 6xHis-tagged interferon-α via the addition of repressor of the araBAD promoter system in Escherichia coli

The inhibition of inclusion body formation in Escherichia coli by the addition of alpha-D: -glucopyranoside or D: -fucose after induction improved the purification yield of soluble recombinant interferon-alpha. When D: -fucose was added after induction, more soluble 6xHis-tagged interferon-alpha could be purified compared to when methyl alpha-D: -glucopyranoside was added. It was shown that, on the basis of 1 mg dry cell weight, 16.6 mug of soluble 6xHis-tagged interferon-alpha was purified when D: -fucose was added after induction and 6 ml nickel-chelated agarose gel column was used. This was about 15 times greater than when induction only was performed and 1 ml nickel-chelated agarose gel was used.     

Regulation of formation of the intracellular beta-galactosidase activity of Aspergillus nidulans

The regulation of formation of the single intracellular beta-galactosidase activity of Aspergillus nidulans was investigated. beta-Galactosidase was not formed during growth on glucose or glycerol, but was rapidly induced during growth on lactose or D-galactose. L-Arabinose, and -- with lower efficacy -- D-xylose also induced beta-galactosidase activity. Addition of glucose to cultures growing on lactose led to a rapid decrease in beta-galactosidase activity. In contrast, in cultures growing on D-galactose, addition of glucose decreased the activity of beta-galactosidase only slightly. Glucose inhibited the uptake of lactose, but not of D-galactose, and required the carbon catabolite repressor CreA for this. In addition, CreA also repressed the formation of basal levels of beta-galactosidase and partially interfered with the induction of beta-galactosidase by D-galactose, L-arabinose, and D-xylose. D-Galactose phosphorylation was not necessary for beta-galactosidase induction, since induction by D-galactose occurred in an A. nidulans mutant defective in galactose kinase, and by the non-metabolizable D-galactose analogue fucose in the wild-type strain. Interestingly, a mutant in galactose-1-phosphate uridylyl transferase produced beta-galactosidase at a low, constitutive level even on glucose and glycerol and was no longer inducible by D-galactose, whereas it was still inducible by L-arabinose. We conclude that biosynthesis of the intracellular beta-galactosidase of A. nidulans is regulated by CreA, partially repressed by galactose-1-phosphate uridylyl transferase, and induced by D-galactose and L-arabinose in independent ways.     

Expression of E. coli araBAD operon encoding enzymes for metabolizing L-arabinose in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Escherichia coli araBAD operon consists of three genes encoding three enzymes that convert L-arabinose to D-xylulose-5 phosphate. In this paper we report that the genes of the E. coli araBAD operon have been expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using strong promoters from genes encoding S. cerevisiae glycolytic enzymes (pyruvate kinase, phosphoglucose isomerase, and phosphoglycerol kinase). The expression of these cloned genes in yeast was demonstrated by the presence of the active enzymes encoded by these cloned genes and by the presence of the corresponding mRNAs in the new host. The level of expression of L-ribulokinase (araB) and L-ribulose-5-phosphate 4-epimerase (araD) in S. cerevisiae was relatively high, with greater than 70% of the activity of the enzymes in wild type E. coli. On the other hand, the expression of L-arabinose isomerase (araA) reached only 10% of the activity of the same enzyme in wild type E. coli. Nevertheless, S. cerevisiae, bearing the cloned L-arabinose isomerase gene, converted L-arabinose to detectable levels of L-ribulose during fermentation. However, S. cerevisiae bearing all three genes (araA, araB, and araD) was not able to produce detectable amount of ethanol from L-arabinose. We speculate that factors such as pH, temperature, and competitive inhibition could reduce the activity of these enzymes to a lower level during fermentation compared to their activity measured in vitro. Thus, the ethanol produced from L-arabinose by recombinant yeast containing the expressed BAD genes is most likely totally consumed by the cell to maintain viability.     

Constitutive mutations in the controlling site region of the araBAD operon of Escherichia coli B/r that decrease sensitivity to catabolite repression.

Strains of Escherichia coli B/r containing a deletion of the regulatory gene araC are Ara-. Slow-growing revertants of these strains were isolated and designated aralc because they contain a second mutation in a controlling site, aral, that allows for a low level of constitutive expression of the araBAD operon (Englesbert et al., 1969). We mutagenized aralc delta C strains and selected mutants that grow faster in mineral L-arabinose medium. The new mutations, called araXc, map very close to the original aralc mutations and are in the controlling site region between araB and araC. The aralcXc delta C strains have a higher constitutive level of expression of the araBAD operon than the aralc delta C parents. The araXc mutations are cis acting and decrease the araBAD operon's sensitivity to catabolite repression. The araBAD operon is expressed equally well in ara delta C and ara C cya crp backgrounds. The repressor form of ara C protein is able to repress the constitutive synthesis due to the ara Xc allele.     

乳糖诱导的重组人血管内皮抑素(rhEndostatin)蛋白的表达

研究用乳糖替代IPTG作为诱导剂进行重组蛋白的表达,观察乳糖对乳糖操纵子调控的基因工程菌发酵及重组血管内皮抑素表达的影响,从而选取最佳诱导表达条件。以重组人血管内皮抑素表达工程菌pETrhEN/BL21(DE3)作为研究对象,分别用IPTG和乳糖作为诱导剂,在摇瓶中进行表达实验。并对重组蛋白质表达量进行分析。然后在5 L发酵罐中进行验证。在摇瓶培养条件下,乳糖浓度大于0.5 g/L即可以诱导目的蛋白的表达。乳糖浓度1 g/L时诱导目的蛋白表达量与1 mmol/L的IPTG相当,当乳糖浓度为10 g/L,目的蛋白表达量达到最大。在发酵罐培养条件下,补料4 h后葡萄糖浓度基本耗尽,此时开始加入乳糖。诱导后1 h,即有重组蛋白表达,在诱导后4 h达到高峰(占菌体可溶性蛋白的56%),与此同时,诱导后5 h菌体浓度也达到最高值。在以乳糖操纵子为调控手段的工程菌表达系统中,可以使用乳糖作为诱导剂,诱导应在葡萄糖消耗完后进行。     

Automatic inducer addition and harvesting of recombinant Escherichia coli cultures based on indirect on-line estimation of biomass concentration and specific growth rate

This article describes a novel bioreactor configuration for production optimization of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Inducer addition and harvesting are controlled on-line based on indirect estimation of biomass concentration and specific growth rate from addition of NaOH to maintain constant pH. When either a predetermined biomass concentration is reached or the cultures have obtained, a constant specific growth rate inducer is introduced automatically. The induction period is ended by automatic harvesting of the cultures either at a predetermined biomass concentration or when substrate (in this study glucose) is depleted, detected as an increase of pH, or dissolved oxygen tension. During harvesting, metabolic activities are quenched within 3 min by cooling of the cell suspension. The system has been used to optimize expression of glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein of the ligand binding domain of mouse peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, GST-PPARalpha LBD. Total yield of GST-PPARalpha LBD was independent of the time of inducer addition as long as the length of induction period corresponded to at least 0.25 cell divisions while the yield of soluble GST-PPARalpha LBD, the only active form, increased with the length of induction period. Highest yields were obtained when the inducer was added at low cell concentration as soon as constant specific growth rate was detected, resulting in induction periods corresponding to 3.4 +/- 0.4 cell divisions. The specific growth rate remained almost constant for one cell division after inducer addition, whereafter it decreased. No decrease of specific growth rate was observed when inducer was added in the lag-phase, and no soluble protein was produced. These results suggest that solely soluble GST-PPARalpha LBD acts as a growth inhibitor and that GST-PPARalpha LBD is expressed predominantly as inclusion bodies immediately after inducer addition whereas the proportion expressed as soluble protein is increased after 1 h of induction. Compared to the procedures, which are generally used for protein expression in the laboratory, this system is less labor intensive, it automatically provides recording of biomass concentration and specific growth rate, and it allows direct comparisons between expression of different proteins and performance of different constructs since the induction period is linked to growth.     

Optimizing the expression of a monoclonal antibody fragment under the transcriptional control of the Escherichia coli lac promoter

The expression of a monoclonal antibody Fab fragment in Escherichia coli strain RB791/pComb3, induced with either lactose or isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG), was compared to determine if lactose might provide an inexpensive alternative to induction with IPTG. Induction of Fab expression imposed a metabolic load on the recombinant cells, resulting in lower final cell yields compared to the non-induced controls. An IPTG concentration of 0.05 mM was sufficient to achieve maximal expression of soluble Fab protein when inducing in the early-, mid-, or late-log phases of batch cultures grown using either glucose or glycerol as a carbon source. The largest overall yield of Fab fragments when using 0.05 mM IPTG was achieved by increasing the final yield of cells through glycerol feeding following induction in late-log phase. Lactose was as effective as IPTG for inducing Fab expression in E. coli RB791/pComb3. The greatest overall level of Fab expression was found when cells grown on glycerol were induced with 2 g/L lactose in late-log phase. Since the cost of 0.05 mM of IPTG is significantly greater than the cost of 2 g/L lactose, lactose provides an inexpensive alternative to IPTG for inducing the expression of Fab fragments, and possibly other recombinant proteins, from the E. coli lac promoter.     

Bovine Sex Determining Region Y: Cloning,Optimized Expression,and Purification

Sex determining region Y gene (SRY) is located on Y chromosome and encodes a protein with 229 amino acids. In this study, ORF region of SRY with a length of 690 bp was synthesized using PCR and ligated to pET28a (+), then transformed in E.coli DH5α. E.coli BL21 (DE3) strain was chosen to express recombinant bovine SRY protein. A set of optimization steps was taken including different concentrations of IPTG, glucose, and temperatures at differed incubation times after the induction. Results showed that temperature points and different concentrations of IPTG and glucose had a significant effect (p < 0.01) on total protein and recombinant bovine SRY. After purification, various temperatures and concentrations of IPTG showed meaningful effects (p < 0.01) on the solubility of expressed recombinant SRY. Highest soluble rSRY protein amount was achieved where 0.5 mM IPTG and 0.5% glucose was used at 20°C during induction. In the absence of glucose, the highest amount of soluble recombinant SRY levels were achieved at the concentrations of 0.8 mM of IPTG at 28°C, 20°C, and 1.5 mM IPTG at 37°C during induction for 16, 24, and 8 hours, respectively. Regarding the results obtained in this study, it could be stated that by decreasing temperature and inducer concentration, soluble bovine SRY protein expression increases.     

aiiA基因表达载体的构建及其在毕赤酵母中的表达

构建携带N-酰基高丝氨酸内酯酶基因(aiiA)的重组毕赤酵母表达载体pPIC3.5K-aiiA,采用电转化方法转入毕赤酵母GS115,经营养缺陷型培养基、表型鉴定和高G418浓度筛选获得高拷贝表达盒的酵母转化子,用0.5%甲醇诱导表达,RT-PCR鉴定可检测到重组酵母中编码目的基因成熟肽的mRNA,SDS-PAGE和Western blot检测结果表明,aiiA基因在毕赤酵母中成功表达,用指示菌紫色杆菌CV026检测发现目的蛋白具有降解N-酰基高丝氨酸内酯的活性。     

Production of a platelet aggregation inhibitor, salmosin, by high cell density fermentation of recombinant Escherichia coli

Optimal conditions for a high cell density fermentation were investigated in a recombinant Escherichia coli producing salmosin, a platelet aggregation inhibitor. The optimized carbon and nitrogen sources were glycerol 10 g/l, yeast extract 30 g/l, and bacto-tryptone 10 g/l, yielding the dry cell weight (DCW) of 10.61 g/l in a 500 ml flask culture. The late-stage induction with 1% L-arabinose in a 5 l jar fermentor showed the highest DCW of 65.70 g/l after 27 h of the fed-batch fermentation. Around 2,200 mg/l of the protein was expressed as an inclusion body that was then refolded to obtain the active salmosin of 96 mg/l. We also confirmed the inhibitory activity against platelet aggregation of the active salmosin from the high cell density fermentation.     

Development and application of an arabinose-inducible expression system by facilitating inducer uptake in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum is currently used for the industrial production of a variety of biological materials. Many available inducible expression systems in this species use lac-derived promoters from Escherichia coli that exhibit much lower levels of inducible expression and leaky basal expression. We developed an arabinose-inducible expression system that contains the L-arabinose regulator AraC, the P(BAD) promoter from the araBAD operon, and the L-arabinose transporter AraE, all of which are derived from E. coli. The level of inducible P(BAD)-based expression could be modulated over a wide concentration range from 0.001 to 0.4% L-arabinose. This system tightly controlled the expression of the uracil phosphoribosyltransferase without leaky expression. When the gene encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) was under the control of P(BAD) promoter, flow cytometry analysis showed that GFP was expressed in a highly homogeneous profile throughout the cell population. In contrast to the case in E. coli, P(BAD) induction was not significantly affected in the presence of different carbon sources in C. glutamicum, which makes it useful in fermentation applications. We used this system to regulate the expression of the odhI gene from C. glutamicum, which encodes an inhibitor of α-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, resulting in high levels of glutamate production (up to 13.7 mM) under biotin nonlimiting conditions. This system provides an efficient tool available for molecular biology and metabolic engineering of C. glutamicum.     

以甘油为碳源发酵Pichia pastoris组成型表达人血管生成抑制素

在Pichia pastoris组成型表达外源蛋白中碳源起着重要的调控作用。分别以葡萄糖、甘油、甲醇和油酸为碳源研究它们对摇瓶发酵GS115(pGAP9K-AS)表达hAS的影响。结果如下:油酸(163mg/L),甘油(83mg/L),葡萄糖(76mg/L),甲醇(57mg/L)。根据以上结果,以甘油为碳源在30L生物反应器中进行GS115(pGAP9K-AS)工程菌的高密度发酵。48h后测得hAS的产量为169mg/L。产物hAS具有免疫活性并能抑制bFGF诱导的CAM血管生成和实验小鼠黑色素瘤的生长。治疗12d后,抑瘤率达到90%,统计学分析结果表明hAS治疗组和PBS治疗组小鼠的肿瘤体积呈现显著性差异(P<0.01)。     

Effect of L-arabinose and sucrose on the biosynthesis of heliomycin by its producer Streptomyces olivocinereus 11-98

When Streptomyces olivocinereus 11-98 MFU was grown in media containing L-arabinose or sucrose there was observed a converse relation between the culture growth and heliomycin biosynthesis. In media with two carbon sources: L-arabinose and glycerol or sucrose and glycerol at first L-arabinose or sucrose was consumed while the level of glycerol consumption remained low as compared to the control. After exhaustion of the first carbon source there was observed increased consumption of the second one i.e. glycerol. While the medium contained L-arabinose or sucrose the culture growth was mainly provided by these carbon sources and biosynthesis of heliomycin was inhibited. The culture started biosynthesis of heliomycin when L-arabinose or sucrose in the medium was exhausted. Probably control of heliomycin biosynthesis by L-arabinose or sucrose is achieved by catabolic type carbon regulation known as the general mechanism regulating biosynthesis of various antibiotics.     

Optimization of the wheat puroindoline-a production in Pichia pastoris

AIMS: A recombinant puroindoline-a (rPIN-a) was produced using the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. METHODS AND RESULTS: In fed-batch culture, the production of rPIN-a decreased after 24 h of methanol induction. Most of the rPIN-a was not soluble in the culture medium remaining bound to the cell walls. Soluble and membrane-bound rPIN-a were quantified by ELISA after Triton X-114 phase partitioning. In order to improve the production of rPIN-a, the influence of pH, specific growth rate and the addition of TX-114 was tested on two independent continuous cultures. The production of rPIN-a was improved when continuous culture was carried out at 29 degrees C under acid conditions (pH 5) with a low dilution rate (D=0.025 h(-1)). The addition of 0.01% TX-114 to the medium inverted the ratio between the secreted and the membrane-bound rPIN-a. CONCLUSION: When a continuous culture was carried out under optimized conditions, the rPIN-a production yield was increased 10-fold to 14 mg l(-1) and 80% of the rPIN-a was soluble. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study would be helpful to optimize the expression of other membrane-bound proteins in P. pastoris.