通过失活Sec途径阻遏蛋白和胞外蛋白酶提高地衣芽孢杆菌产碱性蛋白酶的能力

为了探究Sec分泌途径对地衣芽孢杆菌(Bacillus licheniformis)碱性蛋白酶产量的影响,对地衣芽孢杆菌TCCC11470 (BL ΔuppΔepsΔpgs)中的分子伴侣阻遏蛋白基因hrcA和基因组中3个Sec途径分泌的胞外蛋白酶基因epr、bpr和vpr进行叠加敲除。通过对比分析基因缺失前后的碱性蛋白酶酶活力发现,敲除菌株TCCC11470ΔhrcA和TCCC11470ΔhrcAΔeprΔbprΔvpr在42 h的碱性蛋白酶酶活力分别达到18 521.2 U/mL和20 048.5 U/mL,分别高出对照菌株BLΔuppΔepsΔpgs(14 478.6 U/mL) 27.9%和38.5%。这一结果指出,通过改进Sec分泌通路可以显著提升碱性蛋白酶的催化效能,为构建优化的工业酶生产宿主提供了新思路和研究方向。     

提高大肠杆菌分泌表达重组蛋白的研究进展

大肠杆菌是表达重组蛋白的常见宿主之一。重组蛋白分泌到周质空间或胞外培养基中较之在胞内以包含体形式表达有许多优势。主要讨论大肠杆菌Ⅰ、Ⅱ型分泌机制,并总结近年来在提高重组蛋白分泌表达的策略方面取得的进展。     

Kil蛋白介导的大肠杆菌外泌表达系统

利用大肠杆菌素释放基因（kil)能有效地增加细菌外膜通透性促进周质蛋白外源的原理构建了含kil基因的大肠杆菌外泌表达系统,将大肠杆菌本身的周质分泌蛋白β-内酰胺酶和异源周质分泌蛋白点状产气单胞菌脯氨酰内肽酶作为报告蛋白,观察Kil蛋白对这两种通常极少分泌到胞外的周质蛋白胞外分泌的促进作用,我们的研究显示：kil基因表达时,β-内酰胺酶的总活性较对照组提高1倍,胞外分泌活性较对照组提高近4倍,脯氨酰内肽酶的总活性较对照组提高0.8倍,胞外分泌活性较对照组提高3倍。     

烟粉虱传毒相关蛋白基因的克隆及其表达量分析

【目的】烟粉虱Bemisia tabaci(Gennadius)是一种世界性的入侵性害虫,其传播的番茄黄化曲叶病毒(Tomato yellow leaf curl virus,TYLCV)给我国番茄生产造成巨大经济损失。为了阐明烟粉虱传播双生病毒的机理,本文拟研究明确B和Q烟粉虱体内传毒相关蛋白Gro EL基因及其表达量。【方法】采用特异性引物克隆了B和Q烟粉虱内共生菌编码的传毒相关蛋白Gro EL基因,并进行序列分析;并利用荧光定量PCR技术检测两种生物型及其获取双生病毒前后该基因的相对表达量。【结果】烟粉虱内共生菌Hamiltonella编码的Gro EL基因全长为1 668 bp,编码555个氨基酸;B、Q烟粉虱该基因的核苷酸序列相似性为99.94%,氨基酸同源性为99.82%;带毒烟粉虱中Gro EL基因的表达量显著高于未带毒的对应生物型烟粉虱;无论带毒与否,Q烟粉虱该基因的表达量均显著高于B(P<0.05)。【结论】烟粉虱携带TYLCV后可诱导Gro EL的表达量升高,B和Q烟粉虱中Gro EL基因及其表达量均存在差异,这可能是B和Q烟粉虱传毒效率存在显著差异的原因之一。     

信号肽在大肠杆菌分泌系统中的研究与应用进展

大肠杆菌以其明显的优势成为表达重组蛋白常用的系统,但是大肠杆菌本身不具备细胞内形成二硫键的氧化条件和分子机制,而且高水平表达时常容易聚集形成包涵体,限制了其使用,改善这一缺点的重要方法是通过信号肽实现蛋白质的分泌表达.信号肽一般存在于分泌蛋白的氨基端,能够引导蛋白质通过大肠杆菌中的Sec或/和Tat系统分泌至周质空间....     

分子伴侣共表达对嗜热环糊精葡萄糖基转移酶异源可溶性表达的影响

【目的】通过优化表达条件,提高嗜热环糊精葡萄糖基转移酶(CGTase)的可溶性表达和胞外酶活性。【方法】构建含cgt基因的重组表达质粒p ET-28a(+)-omp A-cgt,筛选最适诱导温度,并构建5种分子伴侣共表达系统(p KJE8、p KJE7、p Gro7、p Tf16和p G-Tf2,5种分子伴侣质粒分别与重组表达质粒p ET-28a(+)-omp A-cgt共表达),筛选最适分子伴侣质粒,优化共表达条件。【结果】通过SDS-PAGE分析和测定胞外酶活,CGTase基因在大肠杆菌中实现表达,且具有一定量的重组CGTase分泌至胞外;25°C诱导时CGTase的可溶性表达和在胞外上清中的酶活都最高;分子伴侣质粒p KJE8使酶的胞外活性提高了48.6%,效果最为显著;当L-阿拉伯糖浓度为0.5 g/L时,分子伴侣质粒p KJE8使酶的胞外活性提高了68.5%。【结论】通过优化表达条件及使用分子伴侣共表达系统提高了环糊精葡萄糖基转移酶的可溶性表达和胞外酶活,为该酶进一步相关研究奠定了基础。     

粪产碱杆菌青霉素G酰化酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的表达、纯化及其性质

利用PCR技术克隆了粪产碱杆菌 (Alcaligenesfaecalis,CICCAS1.76 7)青霉素G酰化酶 (pencillinGacylase ,PGA)基因 (GenBank登录号AF4 5 5 35 6 )。通过构建工程菌E .coli(pETAPGA) ,该酶在大肠杆菌中获得了表达 ,表达产物分泌到周质空间。进一步构建的工程菌B .subtilis (pMAPGA)和B .subtilis(pBAPGA)实现了该酶的胞外分泌表达。分泌表达的最高表达量为 6 5 3u/L ,比野生型A .faecalis表达量高 10 9倍。表达产物经硫酸铵分级沉淀和DEAE SepharoseCL 6B两步纯化 ,纯度提高 86倍 ,活力回收率达到 81% ,纯化后的PGA活力为 1.4 6 9u/mg。研究表明 ,PGA家族成员中只有粪产碱杆菌PGA和巨大芽孢杆菌PGA可以在枯草芽孢杆菌中分泌表达。与巨大芽孢杆菌PGA相比 ,粪产碱杆菌PGA的最适pH值为 8.0 ,最适温度为 6 0°C ,而且在有机溶剂中具有更强的稳定性。该酶在水相中具有较低的头孢氨苄合成活力。本研究为粪产碱杆菌PGA的获得提供了新的途径。     

分子伴侣及信号肽对毕赤酵母中分泌蛋白表达水平的影响

目的：探索定位于细胞质、内质网膜及内质网腔中的分子伴侣及其组合对于带有不同信号肽的胞外β-1,3-葡聚糖酶（EXGl）在巴斯德毕赤酵母GS200中表达水平的影响。方法：通过融合PCR技术分别构建带有酵母a交配因子引导肽序列（仅MF）、酵母仅交配因子信号肽序列（ccPre）和重链结合蛋白（Bip）信号肽序列的报告蛋白EXGl的表达质粒pPIC9-EXG1,同时构建分子伴侣基因及其组合的表达质粒pBLArg-IV,然后将2种重组质粒共转化至毕赤酵母宿主菌GS200,转化子经筛选获得共表达菌株,通过测定EXG1酶活来评价分子伴侣与信号肽对其表达水平的影响。结果：细胞质及内质网膜上的分子伴侣Sec61a、Sec61B及胞质中的分子伴侣Ydjl、Ssal、Hsp104及其组合对各种信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平没有显著影响。然而,内质网腔中的分子伴侣Bip、EroI、PDI与HacI组合能显著提高报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平,其中,以aMF或ctPre作为信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平分别提高了2．6倍和3．8倍,以Bip信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXGl的表达水平提高了20％～45％,而对于以EXG1自身信号肽引导的报告蛋白EXG1的表达水平没有显著影响。结论：在酵母表达体系中,内质网腔中的分子伴侣是报告蛋白EXG1表达水平的重要影响因素．但分子伴侣对于信号肽的选择性还须进一步证明。     

应用CTB基因启动子及信号肽序列构建分泌性表达系统

利用霍乱毒素B亚基基因的启动子、信号肽序列及ctx操纵子的转录终止信号构建了分泌性表达的质粒载体pMCOSS。Β－半乳糖苷酶基因克隆至霍乱毒素B亚基基因的信号肽序列下游后能得到高效分泌性表达。不同的宿主菌和培养基成分中对β-半乳糖苷酶的表达产量有较大的影响,以MM2为宿主菌、在玉米浆培养基中β－半乳糖苷酶的表达产量达4 lOOu／ml,产物的大部分分泌至细胞的周质,活力测定的结果与SDS—PAGE电泳测定结果基本一致,说明表达的β－半乳糖苷酶绝大部分都具有酶活性。构建的蛋白质分泌性表达的载体－宿主系统及合适的培养条件为易形成包含体的蛋白质的高效表达提供了一条新的途径。     

GL—7—ACA酰化酶在大肠杆菌中的分泌表达

利用来自假单胞菌的ＧＬ－７－ＡＣＡ酰化酶的信号肽和表达元件基因片段构建了ＧＬ－０７－ＡＣＡ酰化酶的分泌型高表达质粒ｐＴｒｃＣＡ１Ｓ和ｐＫＫＣＡ１Ｓ,其中ｐＴｒｃＣＡ１Ｓ为ＩＰＴＧ诱导型质粒,ｐＫＫＣＡ１Ｓ为组成型质粒。ｐＴｒｃＣＡ１Ｓ和ｐＫＫＣＡ１Ｓ转入受体菌ＴＧ１中都可高表达ＧＬ－７－ＡＣＡ酰化酶基因并将表达产物转运到周质空间,完整细胞酰楷酶比活力分别为２３．９单位每克菌体和１８．３单位每克菌体     

Chaperone networking facilitates protein targeting to the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane

Nascent polypeptides emerging from the ribosome are assisted by a pool of molecular chaperones and targeting factors, which enable them to efficiently partition as cytosolic, integral membrane or exported proteins. Extensive genetic and biochemical analyses have significantly expanded our knowledge of chaperone tasking throughout this process. In bacteria, it is known that the folding of newly-synthesized cytosolic proteins is mainly orchestrated by three highly conserved molecular chaperones, namely Trigger Factor (TF), DnaK (HSP70) and GroEL (HSP60). Yet, it has been reported that these major chaperones are strongly involved in protein translocation pathways as well. This review describes such essential molecular chaperone functions, with emphasis on both the biogenesis of inner membrane proteins and the post-translational targeting of presecretory proteins to the Sec and the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathways. Critical interplay between TF, DnaK, GroEL and other molecular chaperones and targeting factors, including SecB, SecA, the signal recognition particle (SRP) and the redox enzyme maturation proteins (REMPs) is also discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Protein trafficking and secretion in bacteria. Guest Editors: Anastassios Economou and Ross Dalbey.     

Combined effects of the signal sequence and the major chaperone proteins on the export of human cytokines in Escherichia coli.

We have studied the export of two human proteins in the course of their production in Escherichia coli. The coding sequences of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and of interleukin 13 were fused to those of two synthetic signal sequences to direct the human proteins to the bacterial periplasm. We found that the total amount of protein varies with the signal peptide-cytokine combination, as does the fraction of it that is soluble in a periplasmic extract. The possibility that the major chaperone proteins such as SecB and the GroEL-GroES and DnaK-DnaJ pairs are limiting factors for the export was tested by overexpressing one or the other of these chaperones concomitantly with the heterologous protein. The GroEL-GroES chaperone pair had no effect on protein production. Overproduction of SecB or DnaK plus DnaJ resulted in a marked increase of the quantity of human proteins in the periplasmic fraction, but this increase depends on the signal peptide-heterologous protein-chaperone association involved.     

Effects of E. coli chaperones on the solubility of human receptors in an in vitro expression system

The implementation of efficient technologies for the production of recombinant mammalian membrane receptors is an outstanding challenge in understanding receptor-ligand actions and the development of therapeutic antibodies. In order to improve the solubility of recombinant extracellular domains of human membrane receptors expressed in Escherichia coli, proteins were synthesized by an E. coli in vitro translation system supplemented with bacterial molecular chaperones, such as GroEL-GroES (GroEL/ES), Trigger factor (TF), a DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE chaperone system (DnaKJE), and/or a heat shock protein Hsp100, ClpB. The following three proteins that are prone to aggregation were examined: the extracellular domain (ECD) or the second immunoglobulin-like domain (IgII) of the human neurotrophin receptor TrkC (TrkC-ECD and TrkC-IgII), and the C-type lectin carbohydrate recognition domain of the human asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR HI CRD). The cooperative chaperone system including GroEL/ES, DnaKJE and ClpB had a marked effect on the solubility of TrkC-ECD and TrkC-IgII, and the GroEL/ES-DnaKJE-TF chaperone system was more effective for TrkC-IgII. The GroEL/ES-DnaKJE-TF chaperone network increased the yield of soluble ASGPR HI CRD. The present findings demonstrate that E. coli molecular chaperones are useful in improving the yield of soluble recombinant extracellular domains of human membrane receptors in an E. coli expression system.     

Defining the role of the Escherichia coli chaperone SecB using comparative proteomics

To improve understanding and identify novel substrates of the cytoplasmic chaperone SecB in Escherichia coli, we analyzed a secB null mutant using comparative proteomics. The secB null mutation did not affect cell growth but caused significant differences at the proteome level. In the absence of SecB, dynamic protein aggregates containing predominantly secretory proteins accumulated in the cytoplasm. Unprocessed secretory proteins were detected in radiolabeled whole cell lysates. Furthermore, the assembly of a large fraction of the outer membrane proteome was slowed down, whereas its steady state composition was hardly affected. In response to aggregation and delayed sorting of secretory proteins, cytoplasmic chaperones DnaK, GroEL/ES, ClpB, IbpA/B, and HslU were up-regulated severalfold, most likely to stabilize secretory proteins during their delayed translocation and/or rescue aggregated secretory proteins. The SecB/A dependence of 12 secretory proteins affected by the secB null mutation (DegP, FhuA, FkpA, OmpT, OmpX, OppA, TolB, TolC, YbgF, YcgK, YgiW, and YncE) was confirmed by "classical" pulse-labeling experiments. Our study more than triples the number of known SecB-dependent secretory proteins and shows that the primary role of SecB is to facilitate the targeting of secretory proteins to the Sec-translocase.     

Influence of impaired chaperone or secretion function on SecB production in Escherichia coli.

The efficient export of proteins through the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli requires chaperones to maintain protein precursors in a translocation-competent conformation. In addition to SecB, the major chaperone facilitating export of particular precursors, heat shock-induced chaperones DnaK-DnaJ and GroEL-GroES are also involved in this process. By use of secB'-lacZ gene fusions and immunoprecipitation experiments, SecB production was studied in E. coli strains containing conditional lethal mutations in chaperone or sec genes. While the loss of heat shock chaperones resulted in an increased production of SecB, mutations in sec genes showed only minor effects on SecB synthesis. Neither the plasmid-mediated overexpression of precursors of exoproteins nor the overexpression of secB altered the synthesis of SecB. These results suggest that under conditions where chaperones become depleted, E. coli responds by raising the expression of secB. These data confirm the supposed synergy of different chaperones involved in protein export.     

Overexpression of DsbC and DsbG markedly improves soluble and functional expression of single-chain Fv antibodies in Escherichia coli

Single-chain Fv antibodies (scFv), a group of reconstructed molecules with several disulfide bonds, are prone to aggregate as inclusion bodies, the insoluble species of natural proteins, when expressed in Escherichia coli, especially at high level. Recovery of functionally active products from inclusion bodies is onerous and ineffective. We have increased the soluble and functional scFv yields by fusing either DsbC or DsbG, two E. coli disulfide isomerases with general chaperone function, to scFvs. Compared to the totally insoluble inclusion bodies of scFvs expressed separately, more than half of each fusion protein DsbC-scFv or DsbG-scFv was soluble, according to SDS-PAGE analysis. The more effective solubility was obtained when the fused protein DsbG-scFv was co-expressed simultaneously with DsbC under the same promoter. Under this condition, the soluble portion of DsbG-scFv increased from about 50% to 90% measured by scanning SDS-PAGE gel. Co-expression of DsbC can change fusion protein CBD-scFv from totally insoluble when expressed in E. coli separately to a considerable portion of soluble CBD-scFv. Antigen-binding activity assay showed that scFvs retained full affinity to specific antigens. We also determined that general molecular chaperones GroEL and GroES had no effects on the solubility of scFvs when co-expressed with scFv in E. coli. We propose that the correct formation of disulfide bonds in scFvs is the crucial factor responsible for solubility of scFvs.     

Three pure chaperone proteins of Escherichia coli--SecB, trigger factor and GroEL--form soluble complexes with precursor proteins in vitro.

Diverse studies of three cytoplasmic proteins of Escherichia coli--SecB, trigger factor and GroEL--have suggested that they can maintain precursor proteins in a conformation which is competent for membrane translocation. These proteins have been termed 'chaperones'. Using purified chaperone proteins and precursor protein substrates, we find that each of these chaperones can stabilize proOmpA for translocation and for the translocation-ATPase. These chaperones bind to proOmpA to form isolable complexes. SecB and GroEL will also form complexes with another exported protein, prePhoE. In contrast, these chaperones do not form stable complexes with a variety of soluble proteins such as SecA protein, bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin or ribonuclease A. While chaperones may transiently interact with soluble proteins to catalyze their folding, the stable interaction between chaperones and presecretory proteins, maintaining an open conformation which is essential for translocation, may commit these proteins to the secretion pathway.     

Coexpression of molecular chaperone enhances activity and export of organophosphorus hydrolase in Escherichia coli

Periplasmic secretion has been used in attempts to construct an efficient whole‐cell biocatalyst with greatly reduced diffusion limitations. Previously, we developed recombinant Escherichia coli that express organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) in the periplasmic space using the twin‐arginine translocation (Tat) pathway to degrade environmental toxic organophosphate compounds. This system has the advantage of secreting protein into the periplasm after folding in the cytoplasm. However, when OPH was expressed with a Tat signal sequence in E. coli, we found that the predominant OPH was an insoluble premature form in the cytoplasm, and thus, the whole‐cell OPH activity was significantly lower than its cell lysate activity. In this work, we, for the first time, used a molecular chaperone coexpression strategy to enhance whole‐cell OPH activity by improving the periplasmic translocation of soluble OPH. We found that the effect of GroEL‐GroES (GroEL/ES) assistance on the periplasmic localization of OPH was secretory pathway dependent. We observed a significant increase in the amount of soluble mature OPH when cytoplasmic GroEL/ES was expressed; this increase in the amount of mature OPH might be due to enhanced OPH folding in the cytoplasm. Importantly, the whole‐cell OPH activity of the chaperone–coexpressing cells was ～5.5‐fold greater at 12 h after induction than that of cells that did not express the chaperone as a result of significant Tat‐based periplasmic translocation of OPH in the chaperone–coexpressing cells. Collectively, these data suggest that molecular chaperones significantly enhance the whole‐cell activity of periplasmic OPH‐secreting cells, yielding an effective whole‐cell biocatalyst system with highly reduced diffusion limitations. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 28: 925–930, 2012     

Lon Protease Quality Control of Presecretory Proteins in Escherichia coli and Its Dependence on the SecB and DnaJ (Hsp40) Chaperones

Various environmental insults result in irreversible damage to proteins and protein complexes. To cope, cells have evolved dedicated protein quality control mechanisms involving molecular chaperones and proteases. Here, we provide both genetic and biochemical evidence that the Lon protease and the SecB and DnaJ/Hsp40 chaperones are involved in the quality control of presecretory proteins in Escherichia coli. We showed that mutations in the lon gene alleviate the cold-sensitive phenotype of a secB mutant. Such suppression was not observed with either clpP or clpQ protease mutants. In comparison to the respective single mutants, the double secB lon mutant strongly accumulates aggregates of SecB substrates at physiological temperatures, suggesting that the chaperone and the protease share substrates. These observations were extended in vitro by showing that the main substrates identified in secB lon aggregates, namely proOmpF and proOmpC, are highly sensitive to specific degradation by Lon. In contrast, both substrates are significantly protected from Lon degradation by SecB. Interestingly, the chaperone DnaJ by itself protects substrates better from Lon degradation than SecB or the complete DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE chaperone machinery. In agreement with this finding, a DnaJ mutant protein that does not functionally interact in vivo with DnaK efficiently suppresses the SecB cold-sensitive phenotype, highlighting the role of DnaJ in assisting presecretory proteins. Taken together, our data suggest that when the Sec secretion pathway is compromised, a pool of presecretory proteins is transiently maintained in a translocation-competent state and, thus, protected from Lon degradation by either the SecB or DnaJ chaperones.     

An essential role for the DnaK molecular chaperone in stabilizing over-expressed substrate proteins of the bacterial twin-arginine translocation pathway

All secreted proteins in Escherichia coli must be maintained in an export-competent state before translocation across the inner membrane. In the case of the Sec pathway, this function is carried out by the dedicated SecB chaperone and the general chaperones DnaK-DnaJ-GrpE and GroEL-GroES, whose job collectively is to render substrate proteins partially or entirely unfolded before engagement of the translocon. To determine whether these or other general molecular chaperones are similarly involved in the translocation of folded proteins through the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system, we screened a collection of E. coli mutant strains for their ability to transport a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter through the Tat pathway. We found that the molecular chaperone DnaK was essential for cytoplasmic stability of GFP bearing an N-terminal Tat signal peptide, as well as for numerous other recombinantly expressed endogenous and heterologous Tat substrates. Interestingly, the stability conferred by DnaK did not require a fully functional Tat signal as substrates bearing translocation defective twin lysine substitutions in the consensus Tat motif were equally unstable in the absence of DnaK. These findings were corroborated by crosslinking experiments that revealed an in vivo association between DnaK and a truncated version of the Tat substrate trimethylamine N-oxide reductase (TorA502) bearing an RR or a KK signal peptide. Since TorA502 lacks nine molybdo-cofactor ligands essential for cofactor attachment, the involvement of DnaK is apparently independent of cofactor acquisition. Finally, we show that the stabilizing effects of DnaK can be exploited to increase the expression and translocation of Tat substrates under conditions where the substrate production level exceeds the capacity of the Tat translocase. This latter observation is expected to have important consequences for the use of the Tat system in biotechnology applications where high levels of periplasmic expression are desirable.