The CorA Mg2+ transporter is a homotetramer

CorA is a primary Mg2+ transporter for Bacteria and Archaea. The C-terminal domain of approximately 80 amino acids forms three transmembrane (TM) segments, which suggests that CorA is a homo-oligomer. A Cys residue was added to the cytoplasmic C terminus (C317) of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium CorA with or without mutation of the single periplasmic Cys191 to Ser; each mutant retained function. Oxidation of the Cys191Ser Cys317 CorA gave a dimer. Oxidation of Cys317 CorA showed a dimer plus an additional band, apparently cross-linked via both Cys317 and C191. To determine oligomer order, intact cells or purified membranes were treated with formaldehyde or carbon disulfide. Higher-molecular-mass bands formed, consistent with the presence of a tetramer. Cross-linking of the Bacillus subtilis CorA expressed in Salmonella serovar Typhimurium similarly indicated a tetramer. CorA periplasmic soluble domains from both Salmonella serovar Typhimurium and the archaeon Methanococcus jannaschii were purified and shown to retain structure. Formaldehyde treatment showed formation of a tetramer. Finally, previous mutagenesis of the CorA membrane domain identified six intramembrane residues forming an apparent pore that interacts with Mg2+ during transport. Each was mutated to Cys. In mutants carrying a single intramembrane Cys residue, spontaneous disulfide bond formation that was enhanced by oxidation with Cu(II)-1,10-phenanthroline was observed between monomers, indicating that these Mg2+-interacting residues within the membrane are very close to their cognate residue on another monomer. Thus, CorA appears to be a homotetramer with a TM segment of one monomer physically close to the same TM segment of another monomer.     

Purification and characterization of protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-MEG2

PTP-MEG2 is an intracellular protein tyrosine phosphatase with a putative lipid-binding domain at the N-terminus. The present study reports expression, purification, and characterization of the full-length form of the enzyme plus a truncated form containing the catalytic domain alone. Full-length PTP-MEG2 was expressed with an adenovirus system and purified from cytosolic extracts of human 293 cells infected with the recombinant adenovirus. The purification scheme included chromatographic separation of cytosolic extracts on fast flow Q-Sepharose, heparin-agarose, l-histidyldiazobenzylphosphonic acid agarose, and hydroxylapatite. The enrichment of PTP-MEG2 from the cytosol was about 120-fold. The truncated form of PTP-MEG2 was expressed in E. coli cells as a non-fusion protein and purified by using a chromatographic procedure similar to that used for the full-length enzyme. The purified full-length and truncated enzymes showed single polypeptide bands on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions and behaved as monomers on gel exclusion chromatography. With para-nitrophenylphosphate and phosphotyrosine as substrates, both forms of the enzyme exhibited classical Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Their responses to pH, ionic strength, metal ions, and protein phosphatase inhibitors are similar to those observed with other characterized tyrosine phosphatases. Compared with full-length PTP-MEG2, the truncated DeltaPTP-MEG2 displayed significantly higher V(max) and lower K(m) values, suggesting that the N-terminal putative lipid-binding domain may have an inhibitory role. The full-length and truncated forms of PTP-MEG2 were also expressed as GST fusion proteins in E. coli cells and purified to near homogeneity through affinity columns. However, the specific phosphatase activities of the GST fusion proteins were 10-25-fold below those obtained with the correspondent non-fusion proteins.     

Expression and purification of pheophorbidase, an enzyme catalyzing the formation of pyropheophorbide during chlorophyll degradation: comparison with the native enzyme

Formation of pyropheophorbide (PyroPheid) during chlorophyll metabolism in some higher plants has been shown to involve the enzyme pheophorbidase (PPD). This enzyme catalyzes the conversion of pheophorbide (Pheid) a to a precursor of PyroPheid, C-13(2)-carboxylPyroPheid a, by demethylation, and then the precursor is decarboxylated non-enzymatically to yield PyroPheid a. In this study, expression, purification, and biochemical characterization of recombinant PPD from radish (Raphanus sativus L.) were performed, and its properties were compared with those of highly purified native PPD. Recombinant PPD was produced using a glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion system. The PPD and GST genes were fused to a pGEX-2T vector and expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of a T7 promoter as a fusion protein. The recombinant PPD-GST was expressed as a 55 kDa protein as measured by SDS-PAGE and purified by single-step affinity chromatography through a GSTrap FF column. PPD-GST was purified to homogeneity with a yield of 0.42 mg L(-1) of culture. The protein purified by this method was confirmed to be PPD by measuring its activity. The purified PPD-GST fusion protein revealed potent catalytic activity for demethylation of the methoxycarbonyl group of Pheid a and showed a pH optimum, substrate specificity, and thermal stability quite similar to the native enzyme purified from radish, except for the Km values toward Pheid a: 95.5 microM for PPD-GST and about 15 microM for native PPDs.     

Expression and purification of the mitochondrial serine protease LACTB as an N-terminal GST fusion protein in Escherichia coli

LACTB is a mammalian mitochondrial protein sharing sequence similarity to the beta-lactamase/penicillin-binding protein family of serine proteases that are involved in bacterial cell wall metabolism. The physiological role of LACTB is unclear. In this study we have subcloned the cDNA of mouse LACTB (mLACTB) and produced recombinant mLACTB protein in Escherichia coli. When mLACTB was expressed as an N-terminal GST fusion protein (GST-mLACTB), full-length GST-mLACTB protein was recovered by glutathione-agarose affinity chromatography as determined by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and immunoblotting. Expression of mLACTB as a C-terminal GST fusion protein or with either an N- or C-terminal His6-tag resulted in proteolytic degradation of the protein and we were not able to detect full-length mLACTB. Analysis of GST-mLACTB by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry revealed the presence of alpha-helices, beta-sheets and turns, consistent with a well-defined secondary structure. These results show that mLACTB can be expressed as a GST fusion protein in E. coli and suggest that GST-mLACTB was properly folded.     

Long stretches of sequential and identical serine or alanine codons are compatible with an efficient full-length protein expression in Escherichia coli

The Schistosoma japonicum glutathione S-transferase (GST) recombinant cDNAs, carrying blocks of sequential and identical triplets, consisting of 15-30-45 GCT (Ala) codons or 15-30 and also up to 75 AGC (Ser) codons, are expressed efficiently in an Escherichia coli system in the form of full-length protein chains, as detected by Coomassie-stained SDS-polyacrylamide gels, and soluble fusion proteins are purified by GSH-affinity chromatography. High expression levels and high yields of purified recombinant proteins are achieved. The efficient protein expression is independent of the molecular context and position of the polySer/polyAla string inserted into the GST carrier (near the part of the gene encoding the N- or the C-terminus). These findings suggest that E. coli is a powerful biological system to express foreign genes carrying long stretches coding for Ser- or Ala-rich domains, which are not uncommon in eukaryotic proteins. Moreover, data reported here show that the negative effect of sequential serine codons on protein expression in bacteria, previously reported in the literature, is not a general phenomenon.     

MLP增强生肌素对nAChRγ亚基基因启动子的结合活性

构建表达GAL4 MLP融合蛋白的真核表达质粒pBind MLP .哺乳动物细胞双杂交试验表明 ,MLP与生肌素E12复合物存在细胞内的相互作用 .构建表达GST融合蛋白GST MLP和GST E12的原核表达质粒pGEX 2TK MLP以及pGEX 4T 2 E12 .在E .coliBL2 1中诱导表达GST MLP、GST 生肌素和GST E12 ,并用亲和层析法纯化了这 3种GST融合蛋白 .这 3种GST融合蛋白进行的凝胶阻滞试验表明 ,MLP可以增强生肌素 E12复合物对AChRγ亚基基因启动子的结合活性 .研究初步阐明了MLP增强nAChRγ亚基基因启动子在分化C2C12细胞中的转录活性的分子机制 .     

游仆虫重组核糖体蛋白L11与肽链释放因子的体外相互作用分析

核糖体蛋白L11(ribosome protein L11)是一种高度保守的蛋白质．为研究真核生物的核糖体蛋白L11的功能,从八肋游仆虫（Euplotes octocarinatus）大核基因组中克隆到核糖体蛋白L11基因,构建了重组表达质粒pGEX-6p1-L11,通过谷胱甘肽-Sepharose 4B亲和层析,纯化了重组融合蛋白GST-L11．Pull down 分析显示,八肋游仆虫的核糖体蛋白L11与第一类肽链释放因子eRF1a可以在体外相互作用．这一结果提示,与原核生物一样,低等真核生物的核糖体蛋白L11在肽链终止过程中可能起一定的作用．     

小鼠TAp63γ及两种突变体的原核表达、纯化和DNA结合活性

采用PCR扩增法得到小鼠TAp63γ野生型及两种缺失突变体的cDNA,3种cDNA与表达载体pGEX-2TK重组构建成GST融合表达质粒并转化感受态E.coli BL21 (DE3),经IPTG诱导了小鼠TAp63γ野生型及两种缺失突变体的可溶性表达. 诱导表达的菌液经离心收集菌体、超声破碎及Triton X-100增溶后获得可溶性表达蛋白粗提液. 利用Glutathione Sepharose 4 Fast Flow亲合层析纯化出电泳均一的3种GST融合蛋白. 凝胶滞留分析证实仅野生型小鼠TAp63γ蛋白能特异结合p53靶序列,经序列比对及同源建模分析,表明小鼠TAp63γ DBD结合区的完整性、关键氨基酸的保守性及三维结构的相似性可能是其DNA结合活性所必需的.     

小鼠RHOX5蛋白两种截短型突变体的原核表达及其与MDFIC互作的鉴定

目的：表达和纯化两种小鼠RHOX5蛋白的截短型突变体,确定完整的RHOX5蛋白及其两种截短型突变体与MDFIC蛋白结合的能力。方法：生物信息学分析小鼠同源异型框蛋白RHOX5的cDNA序列,分别对RHOX5的两种截短型片段RHOX5 N和RHOX5 C进行PCR、分别扩增RHOX5的两种截短型片段RHOX5 N和RHOX5 C并将其克隆至pGEX4T3原核表达载体,构建重组表达质粒。用重组表达质粒分别转化大肠杆菌RosettaTM2(DE3)菌株,经IPTG诱导后,使用Glutathione-Sepherase 4B颗粒对融合蛋白进行小批量亲和纯化,通过SDS-PAGE电泳分离目标蛋白,确定融合蛋白的表达。进行GST-pull down实验,检测完整的RHOX5蛋白及其两种截短型突变体与MDFIC蛋白结合的能力。 结果：在大肠杆菌RosettaTM2(DE3)中有效地实现了GST-RHOX5、GST-RHOX5 N和GST-RHOX5-C-3种融合蛋白的可溶性表达;经Glutathione Sepherase 4B颗粒亲和纯化后,获得了纯化后GST融合蛋白;GST-pull down实验证实,含有homeodomain的RHOX5蛋白和RHOX5C截短型突变体可以与MDFIC蛋白相结合,而RHOX5N截短型突变体则丧失了与MDFIC蛋白结合的能力。 结论：实现了RHOX5及其两种截短型突变体的原核表达和纯化,证实RHOX5蛋白的homeodomain结构域是其与MDFIC结合的关键部位。     

Two methods for improved purification of full-length mammalian proteins that have poor expression and/or solubility using standard Escherichia coli procedures

Many mammalian proteins are multifunctional proteins with biological activities whose characterization often requires in vitro studies. However, these studies depend on generation of sufficient quantities of recombinant protein and many mammalian proteins cannot be easily expressed and purified as full-length products. One example is the Wilm's tumor gene product, WT1, which has proven difficult to express as a full-length purified recombinant protein using standard approaches. To facilitate expression of full-length WT1 we have developed approaches that optimized its expression and purification in Escherichia coli and mammalian cells. First, using a bicistronic vector system, we successfully expressed and purified WT1 containing a C-terminal tandem affinity tag in 293T cells. Second, using a specific strain of E. coli transformed with a modified GST vector, we successfully expressed and purified N-terminal GST tagged and C-terminal 2x FLAG tagged full-length human WT1. The benefits of these approaches include: (1) two-step affinity purification to allow high quality of protein purification, (2) large soluble tags that can be used for a first affinity purification step, but then conveniently removed with the highly site-specific TEV protease, and (3) the use of non-denaturing purification and elution conditions that are predicted to preserve native protein conformation and function.     

Charge engineering of a protein domain to allow efficient ion-exchange recovery

We have created protein domains with extreme surface charge. These mutated domains allow for ion-exchange chromatography under conditions favourable for selective and efficient capture, using Escherichia coli as a host organism. The staphylococcal protein A-derived domain Z (Zwt) was used as a scaffold when constructing two mutants, Zbasic1 and Zbasic2, with high positive surface charge. Far-ultraviolet circular dichroism measurements showed that they have a secondary structure content comparable to the parental molecule Zwt. Although melting temperatures (Tm) of the engineered domains were lower than that of the wild-type Z domain, both mutants could be produced successfully as intracellular full-length products in E. coli and purified to homogeneity by ion-exchange chromatography. Further studies performed on Zbasic1 and Zbasic2 showed that they were able to bind to a cation exchanger even at pH values in the 9 to 11 range. A gene fusion between Zbasic2 and the acidic human serum albumin binding domain (ABD), derived from streptococcal protein G, was also constructed. The gene product Zbasic2-ABD could be purified using cation-exchange chromatography from a whole cell lysate to more than 90% purity.     

Expression in Escherichia coli and purification of human recombinant connexin-43, a four-pass transmembrane protein

We have recently shown, using a well-defined in vitro model, that connexin 43 (Cx43) is directly involved in human cytotrophoblastic cell fusion into a multinucleated syncytiotrophoblast. Cx43 appears to interact with partner proteins within a fusogenic complex, in a multi factorial and dynamic process. This fusogenic complex remains to be characterized and constituent proteins need to be identified. In order to identify proteins interacting with the entire Cx43 molecule (extracellular, transmembrane and intracellular domains), we produced and purified full-length recombinant Cx43 fused to glutathione S-transferase (GST-Cx43) and used it as "bait" in GST pull-down experiments. Cx43 cDNA was first cloned into the pDEST15 vector in order to construct a GST-fusion protein, using the Gateway system. The fusion protein GST-Cx43 was then expressed in Escherichia coli strain BL21-AI? and purified by glutathione-affinity chromatography. The purified fusion protein exhibited the expected size of 70 kDa on SDS-PAGE, western blot and GST activity. A GST pull-down assay was used to show the capacity of the full-length recombinant protein to interact with known partners. Our results suggest that this method has the capacity to produce sufficient full-length recombinant protein for investigations aimed at identifying Cx43 partner proteins.     

p16抑癌基因定点突变及其在大肠杆菌中的表达与纯化

为了研究错义突变对ｐ１６功能的影响,应用ＰＣＲ体外定点突变方法对ｐ１６ｃＤＮＡ进行体外定点突变,并将野生型和突变型ｐ１６ｃＤＮＡ克隆于ｐＧＥＸ－５Ｔ载体,在大肠杆菌中经ＩＰＴＧ诱导表达,Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ印迹鉴定确证表达．而后用谷胱甘肽－Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ４Ｂ亲和层析纯化野生型和突变型ｐ１６融合蛋白．得到了第４８位密码子ＣＣＧ（Ｐｒｏ）→ＣＴＧ（Ｌｅｕ）突变的ｐ１６－Ｐ４８突变体,并在大肠杆菌中表达了４２ｋＤ的ＧＳＴ－ｐ１６和ＧＳＴ－ｐ１６Ｐ４８Ｌ融合蛋白．最后经纯化得到了野生和Ｐ４８Ｌ突变的ｐ１６融合蛋白     

人小肠三叶因子在大肠杆菌中的表达

利用PCR技术将人小肠三叶因子(hITF)基因重组入表达载体pGEX-4T-1,构建了融合蛋白GST-hITF的重组表达质粒pGTF,在大肠杆菌中诱导表达。表达的融合蛋白经亲和层析、凝血酶切和凝胶过滤层析得到纯化的hITF蛋白。测定了重组蛋白的氨基酸组成、分子量及其对酸和蛋白酶的抗性。Western印迹表明重组蛋白具有hITF的抗原性,并对大鼠胃溃疡具有明显的预防和保护作用。     

HPV18 E7致癌蛋白的高效表达、纯化和鉴定

目的为进一步研究人乳头状瘤病毒18（Human papillomavirus18,HPV18）E7蛋白的结构与功能。方法构建HPV18 E7的谷胱甘肽S-转移酶融合蛋白质粒pGEX-6P-1-GST-HPV18 E7,重组质粒转入大肠埃希菌BL21进行可溶性融合蛋白的高效表达。结果柱上切除法去除GST标签,表达产物经glutathione Sepharose 4B亲和层析纯化,获得了SDS-PAGE和HPLC-ESI-MS纯度的HPV18 E7均质蛋白,非变性PAGE和凝胶过滤表明HPV18 E7以稳定的单体形式存在于水溶液中。高压液相色谱-电喷雾质谱（HPLC-ESI-MS）分析得到HPV18 E7精确分子量为12865．0 Da,与其理论值吻合。纯化蛋白经HPLC-ESI-MS／MS鉴定为目的产物,鉴定出的9个匹配肽段覆盖率为HPV18 E7整个氨基酸序列的96．5％。结论本文所建立的技术可以有效地大量制备HPV18 E7,为进一步研究其结构与功能和致癌机制奠定了重要的物质基础。     

Association and dissociation of the calcium-binding domains of calpain by Ca2+

The calmodulin-like domain of calpain is important for the association of the calpain large and small subunits. We expressed the calmodulin-like domains of the large subunits of rabbit mu- and m-calpains and their small subunits in E. coli and purified them to homogeneity. Unlike the full-length subunits, the calmodulin-like domains are soluble in buffer containing Ca2+. We performed gel filtration chromatography of the purified proteins and found that all three calmodulin-like domains exist as homodimers in the absence of Ca2+ and dissociate into monomers upon the addition of Ca2+.     

抗人肿瘤坏死因子-α单链抗体与其配体的相互作用

为了在大肠杆菌中表达纯化抗人 TNF- α单链抗体并检测其结合活性与中和活性 .利用GST融合蛋白系统在大肠杆菌中表达抗人 TNF- α单链抗体 E6Sc Fv;分离包含体后进行变性和复性 ,再用亲和层析法进行纯化 ;用 ELISA法和酵母双杂交系统检测 E6Sc Fv与配体的结合 ;用 L92 9细胞检测 E6Sc Fv对人 TNF- α细胞毒作用的中和活性 .经变性 ,复性与亲和层析 ,E6Sc Fv被纯化 ,在 SDS- PAGE上为单一蛋白带 ;体外结合与中和实验表明 ,表达纯化的 E6Sc Fv可与人 TNF-α结合并中和其细胞毒活性 ;进一步用酵母双杂交系统证明当表达于细胞内时 ,E6Sc Fv仍保持了与TNF-α相结合的能力 .     

CorA affects tolerance of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to the lactoperoxidase enzyme system but not to other forms of oxidative stress

The enzyme lactoperoxidase is part of the innate immune system in vertebrates and owes its antimicrobial activity to the formation of oxidative reaction products from various substrates. In a previous study, we have reported that, with thiocyanate as a substrate, the lactoperoxidase system elicits a distinct stress response in Escherichia coli MG1655. This response is different from but partly overlapping with the stress responses to hydrogen peroxide and to superoxide. In the current work, we constructed knockouts in 10 lactoperoxidase system-inducible genes to investigate their role in the tolerance of E. coli MG1655 to this antimicrobial system. Five mutations resulted in a slightly increased sensitivity, but one mutation (corA) caused hypersensitivity to the lactoperoxidase system. This hypersensitive phenotype was specific to the lactoperoxidase system, since neither the sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide nor to the superoxide generator plumbagin was affected in the corA mutant. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium corA had a similar phenotype. Although corA encodes an Mg2+ transporter and at least three other inducible open reading frames belonged to the Mg2+ regulon, repression of the Mg stimulon by Mg2+ did not change the lactoperoxidase sensitivity of either the wild-type or corA mutant. Prior exposure to 0.3 mM Ni2+, which is also transported by CorA, strongly sensitized MG1655 but not the corA mutant to the lactoperoxidase system. Furthermore, this Ni2+-dependent sensitization was suppressed by the CorA-specific inhibitor Co(III) hexaammine. These results indicate that CorA affects the lactoperoxidase sensitivity of E. coli by modulating the cytoplasmic concentrations of transition metals that enhance the toxicity of the lactoperoxidase system.     

日本血吸虫中国大陆株22.6kD膜相关蛋白基因的克隆及其在大肠杆菌中的高效表达

以日本血吸虫ｍＲＮＡ为模板,用ＲＴＰＣＲ法快速克隆到一大小约６００ｂｐ的ＤＮＡ片段,ＤＮＡ序列分析证实,所扩增到的ＤＮＡ片段中含有日本血吸虫２２６膜相关蛋白（Ｓｊ２２６（Ｃｈ））基因,将该基因重组到表达型质粒ｐＧＥＸ４Ｔ中,表达的ＧＳＴ融合蛋白分子量约４８ｋＤ,用谷胱甘肽琼脂糖凝胶亲和层析柱纯化的重组蛋白不仅纯度好,而且得率高,纯化产量可达４０ｍｇ／Ｌ培养物,免疫试验结果表明该重组蛋白具有良好的抗原性,为其在血吸虫病抗感染中的免疫作用研究创造了条件。