Functional expression of full length Limulus Factor C in stably transformed Sf9 cells

Limulus Factor C is a potent antagonist of endotoxin from Gram-negative bacteria. A fusion construct containing full length Factor C has been cloned intoSpodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cell. Stable Sf9 cell transfectants were obtained using Zeocin selection for 2 weeks. The recombinant Factor C (rFC) was secreted into the culture medium at 9 mg l^–1. Both the crude and partially purified rFC were able to detect lipid A at 10 pg ml^–1 in an ELISA-based lipid A binding assay.     

重组人肝刺激物在原核细胞中的表达与纯化

利用基因重组技术 ,构建成人肝刺激因子 (hHSS)和谷胱甘肽转移酶 (GST)融合表达载体 ,转化大肠杆菌BL 2 1(DE3 ) ,以His·Tag亲和层析纯化表达产物 ,FactorXa切割分离hHSS单体 ,并检测其生物学活性。结果显示 ,在pET 4 2a表达体系中hHSS以可溶性蛋白和包涵体两种形式存在 ,GST hHSS表达量占菌体可溶性蛋白的3 0 % ;FactorXa切割GST与hHSS之间肽腱 ,得到 3 3和 15kD两条蛋白带 ,经Western杂交证实 3 3kD条带为GST ,而 15kD条带的分子量与hHSS基因序列推测蛋白结果相符。经His·Tag再次纯化可获得hHSS单体 ,初步证实重组hHSS具有促进肝癌细胞增殖活性     

东方鲎Factor C中的结构域在结合脂多糖中的作用

Factor C是鲎血细胞中的一种丝氨酸蛋白酶原,因其能以高亲和力结合脂多糖(LPS),在医药产品的内毒素检测中起着重要的作用.以往研究表明处于N端的3个Sushi结构域对Factor C的LPS结合活性起着关键作用, 而Factor C N端的其他3个结构域,包括Cys-rich结构域、EGF-like结构域和Lectin-like结构域对LPS结合活性的影响尚不清楚.利用Bac-to-Bac昆虫细胞表达系统可使rFactor C及其4个截短的片段rCES123L,rCES123,rS123L 和rS123获得表达,并且可采用亲和层析柱将这5个重组表达产物纯化.通过测定5个重组表达产物的LPS结合活性及抑菌活性,可以确定Factor C的LPS结合位点位于S123区域.尽管Cys-rich结构域、EGF-like结构域和Lectin-like结构域中不存在LPS结合位点,但当这3个结构域同时存在时,可提高Factor C或CES123L的LPS结合能力,因此rCES123L具有与rFactor C非常相近的LPS结合能力.实验结果表明,rCES123L在昆虫细胞中的表达量比rFactor C高出4倍,预示出rCES123L在医药领域的应用前景.     

Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV杆状病毒在家蚕幼虫中表达重组鲎C因子

鲎C因子是鲎血细胞中一种对内毒素具有高亲和力的丝氨酸蛋白酶,被内毒素激活后可水解人工合成的三肽底物,因而能替代传统的鲎试剂用于内毒素检测。通过RT-PCR从东方鲎血细胞中扩增出鲎C因子基因(factor C)序列,利用Bac-to-Bac/BmNPV杆状病毒表达系统在家蚕幼虫中表达该蛋白,并对其进行活性测定。结果显示:被感染的家蚕血清稀释后能检测到Factor C活性,稀释500倍的血清可以用于内毒素检测,且其灵敏度能达到0.2 EU/mL,有望开发新型的、低成本的内毒素检测试剂。     

Expression and assembly of a functional E1 component (alpha 2 beta 2) of mammalian branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex in Escherichia coli.

We have expressed an active recombinant E1 decarboxylase component of the mammalian branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex in Escherichia coli by subcloning mature E1 alpha and E1 beta subunit cDNA sequences into a bacterial expression vector. To permit affinity purification under native conditions, the mature E1 alpha subunit was fused with the affinity ligand E. coli maltose-binding protein (MBP) through an endoprotease Factor Xa-specific linker peptide. When co-expressed, the MBP-E1 alpha fusion and E1 beta subunits were shown to co-purify as a MBP-E1 component that exhibited both E1 activity and binding competence for recombinant branched-chain E2 component. In contrast, in vitro mixing of individually expressed MBP-E1 alpha and E1 beta did not result in assembly or produce E1 activity. Following proteolytic removal of the affinity ligand and linker peptide with Factor Xa, a recombinant E1 species was eluted from a Sephacryl S-300HR sizing column as an enzymatically active 160-kDa species. The latter showed 1:1 subunit stoichiometry, which was consistent with an alpha 2 beta 2 structure. The recovery of this 160-kDa recombinant E1 species (estimated at 0.07% of total lysate protein) was low, with the majority of the recombinant protein lost as insoluble aggregates. Our findings suggest that the concurrent expression of both E1 alpha and E1 beta subunits in the same cellular compartment is important for assembly of both subunits into a functional E1 alpha 2 beta 2 heterotetramer. By using this co-expression system, we also find that the E1 alpha missense mutation (Tyr-393----Asn) characterized in Mennonites with maple syrup urine disease prevents the assembly of soluble E1 heterotetramers.     

High-throughput protein expression screening and purification in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most widely used expression system for the production of recombinant proteins for structural and functional studies. However, to obtain milligrams of soluble proteins is still challenging since many proteins are expressed in an insoluble form without optimization. Therefore when working with tens of proteins or protein domains it is recommended that high-throughput expression screening at a small scale (1-4ml of culture) is carried out to identify the optimal conditions for soluble protein production. Once determined, these culture conditions can be applied at a large scale to produce sufficient protein for structural or functional studies. We describe a procedure that has enabled the systematic screening of culture conditions or fusion-tags on hundreds of cultures per week. The analysis of the optimal conditions for the soluble production of these proteins helped us to design a simple and efficient protocol for soluble protein expression screening. This protocol has since been used on hundreds of proteins and is illustrated with the genome wide scale production of proteins containing the DNA binding domains of Ciona intestinalis.     

Stable expression of a secretable deletion mutant of recombinant human thrombomodulin in mammalian cells

Thrombomodulin is an endothelial cell membrane protein which plays a central regulatory role in the protein C anticoagulant pathway. The human thrombomodulin intronless gene was isolated from a genomic DNA library and used to isolate the coding region. A mammalian expression vector, phd-TMD1, encoding all the extracellular domains of human thrombomodulin but lacking the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains was constructed. Stable phd-TMD 1 transformants, in both hamster AV12-644 and human 293 cells, expressed functionally active recombinant thrombomodulin as a secreted, soluble product. Soluble thrombomodulin was secreted as two major proteins of 105 kDa and 75 kDa, both of which were purified to homogeneity. The kinetic properties for protein C activation of the two proteins were very different: the Kd for thrombin, Km for protein C, and Ca2+ optima were 3.0 nM, 1.5 microM, and 1-3 mM for the 105-kDa protein and 16 nM, 2.3 microM, and 0.2-0.5 mM for the 75-kDa protein. In clotting and platelet activation assays, the 105-kDa protein was a much more potent anticoagulant than the 75-kDa protein. Both forms of the protein had the amino-terminal sequence Ala19-Pro-Ala-Glu-Pro-Gln. Amino acid composition analysis indicated that both forms of the protein had the same amino acid content which was consistent with the predicted protein comprising residues Ala19 to Ser515. The difference in size appeared to be due to glycosylation as both forms were of similar size following chemical deglycosylation. These studies suggest that (1) secretable thrombomodulin derivatives can be used to study structure-function relationships of the extracellular domains of this important regulatory protein, (2) the extent of glycosylation has profound effects on the kinetic and anticoagulant properties of human thrombomodulin, and (3) soluble recombinant human thrombomodulins may be developed as clinically significant therapeutic anticoagulants.     

Expression of bioactive human M-CSF soluble receptor in transgenic tobacco plants

The cDNA encoding N-terminal three immunoglobin-like domains of human M-CSFR was linked to His-tag and endoplasmic reticulum retention sequence (KDEL) before being inserted into the genome of tobacco plant, Nicotiana tabacum cv. NC-89, by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. The insertion and expression of target gene were confirmed by PCR, ELISA, and Western blot. The recombinant M-CSFsR reached a maximum expression level of 1.92% of total soluble protein in transgenic tobacco plant leaf tissues. The recombinant M-CSFsR could be purified through a one-step IMAC process and its bioactivity was confirmed by the inhibition of colony formation of J6-1 cells. The results suggested that we successfully expressed a high level of bioactive human M-CSFsR in tobacco plants.     

新型冠状病毒RBD蛋白原核表达及多克隆抗体的制备

为原核表达严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（简称新型冠状病毒,severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2）S蛋白受体结合域（receptor binding domain, RBD）并制备多克隆抗体,利用基因克隆技术将RBD基因连接到原核表达载体pGEX-6p-1和pET-32a(+)上,电转化至大肠杆菌XL1-Blue感受态细胞,利用优化后的表达条件大量表达重组蛋白,经亲和层析纯化后通过SDS-PAGE检测蛋白的表达情况。利用GST-RBD融合蛋白作为免疫抗原免疫小鼠制备多克隆抗体,ELISA和Western blot分析抗血清的效价和特异性。PCR鉴定和序列测定结果显示,成功构建了重组载体pGEX-RBD和pET-RBD,在大肠杆菌中实现了GST-RBD和RBD-His融合蛋白的可溶性高效表达。研究获得的多克隆抗体的滴度达到约1∶3 000,并具有良好的结合特异性。原核表达的可溶性新型冠状病毒RBD重组蛋白具有良好的免疫原性,为后续制备基因工程抗体奠定了实验基础。     

Stress-governed expression and purification of human type II hexokinase in Escherichia coli

The full encoding sequence for human type II hexokinase (HXK II) was cloned into the E. coli expression vector pET 21b and expressed as a C-terminally hexahistidine-tagged protein in the BL21 (DE3) strain. The IPTG-induced HXK II approximately accounted for 17% of the total E. coli proteins, and 81% of HXK II(6xHis) existed in inclusion bodies. To improve the production of soluble recombinant HXK II protein, in the functionally active form, we used low temperature, and the osmotic stress expression method. When expressed at 18 degrees C, about 83% of HXK II(6xHis) existed in the soluble fraction, which amounted to a 4.1-fold yield over that expressed at 37 degrees C. The soluble form of HXK II(6xHis) was also highly produced in the presence of 1 M sorbitol under the standard condition (37 degrees C), which indicated that temperature downshift and low water potentials were required to improve the yield of active recombinant HXK II protein. The expressed protein was purified by metal chelate affinity chromatography performed in an IDA Excellose column charged with Ni2+ ions, resulting in about 40 mg recombinant HXK II protein obtained with purity over 89% from 5 l of E. coli culture. The identity of HXK II(6xHis) was confirmed by Western blotting analysis. Taken together, using the stress-governed expression described in this study, human active HXK II can be purified in sufficient amounts for biochemical and biomedical studies.     

VEGFR-3基因转染淋巴管内皮祖细胞后可溶性VEGFR-3蛋白的分泌

目的研究携带BABL/c小鼠VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）基因的重组腺病毒转染淋巴管内皮祖细胞（LEPCs）后,对可溶性VEGFR-3蛋白分泌及其生物学特性的作用。方法采用巢式RT-PCR技术从BABL/c小鼠胎盘组织中扩增VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）的编码基因,并通过重组PCR技术在基因的N端加上人CD33的信号肽。将该基因片段亚克隆入腺病毒表达载体（pDC316-IRES-EGFP）,重组质粒经酶切及测序验证后,与包装质粒共转染293细胞以产生重组腺病毒。将构建好的携带有小鼠VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）基因的重组腺病毒转染淋巴管内皮祖细胞,通过ELISA检测转染细胞上清液中可溶性VEGFR-3蛋白的分泌及其对VEGF-C的中和作用。结果成功构建了带有信号肽的BABL/c小鼠VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）基因的腺病毒表达质粒,并获得高滴度的携带有小鼠VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）基因的重组腺病毒,重组腺病毒转染淋巴管内皮祖细胞后,可使转染细胞分泌可溶性VEGFR-3蛋白,该蛋白具有中和VEGF-C的作用。结论成功地制备了携带BABL/c小鼠VEGFR-3（1-3Ig）基因的重组腺病毒,用该病毒转染淋巴管内皮祖细胞可使其分泌可溶性VEGFR-3,该蛋白在体外具有中和VEGF-C的作用,这为临床抑制肿瘤淋巴管新生奠定了基础。     

Expression, purification, and characterization of recombinant gamma-carboxylated factor IX synthesized in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Factor IX has been expressed to high levels within a recombinant host cell and the biologically active fraction subsequently purified to homogeneity for characterization. The coding sequence for Factor IX was inserted into a mammalian cell expression vector and transfected into dihydrofolate reductase-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells. The integrated DNA was amplified to a high copy number by selection for increasingly higher expression levels of the marker gene, dihydrofolate reductase, contained within a co-transfected plasmid. Cloned cell lines secreting over 100 micrograms/ml Factor IX antigen and up to 1.5 microgram/ml native Factor IX antigen have been obtained. Expression of biologically active Factor IX was dependent on the presence of vitamin K in the culture media. The gamma-carboxylated Factor IX was isolated from cell culture fluid by immunoaffinity chromatography using antibodies conformation-specific for the metal-stabilized conformer of Factor IX. This conformation is dependent upon metal ions and gamma-carboxyglutamic acid. Purified recombinant Factor IX migrated as a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with an electrophoretic mobility equivalent to plasma-derived Factor IX. The purified recombinant Factor IX demonstrated Factor IX coagulant activity, measured in Factor IX-deficient plasma, of 35-75 units/mg. Amino acid analysis of the alkaline hydrolysate of recombinant Factor IX demonstrated an average of 6-7 mol of gamma-carboxyglutamic acid per mol of Factor IX. NH2-terminal sequence analysis of the first 17 residues revealed equivalent amino acid sequences for both purified recombinant and plasma-derived Factor IX. The results represent the first purification and characterization of a biologically active, gamma-carboxylated vitamin K-dependent protein expressed in a recombinant DNA system.     

High-level expression of a soluble and functional fibronectin type II domain from MMP-2 in the Escherichia coli cytoplasm for solution NMR studies

We report a method for the expression in Escherichia coli of the isolated second type II fibronectin domain from MMP-2 (FNII-2). FNII-2 was expressed as a His(6)thioredoxin-tagged fusion protein in the thioredoxin reductase deficient E. coli strain BL21trxB(DE3), thus allowing disulfide-bond formation. When cultured at 37 degrees C, the expressed protein is located exclusively in the soluble fraction of the E. coli lysate. The fusion protein from the soluble fraction was purified and the His(6)thioredoxin-tag was cleaved by thrombin, resulting in a yield of approximately 40 mg/L. The recombinant FNII-2 was demonstrated to be functional by its ability to bind to gelatin-Sepharose, correct folding of the purified protein was confirmed by NMR spectroscopy. This approach may generally be applicable to all FNII domains and is a significant simplification relative to existing techniques involving refolding from inclusion bodies or expression in the eukaryotic host, Pichia pastoris.     

Expression in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf21) insect cells of BT-R(1), a cadherin-related receptor from Manduca sexta for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab toxin

The cadherin-related receptor of Manduca sexta, BT-R(1), for the Cry1A family of Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal toxins, was expressed in cultured Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf21) insect cells utilizing the expression vector deltaOp-gp64. Recombinant BT-R(1) was released by the Sf21 cells in soluble form into the culture medium and represents approximately 58% of total BT-R(1) produced by the cells. The soluble protein was purified by affinity chromatography using Cry1Ab toxin coupled to Sepharose 4B. The apparent molecular mass of purified soluble recombinant BT-R(1) is 195 kDa. Radiolabeled toxin bound to purified soluble BT-R(1) with a K(d) value of 1.1 nM, which is similar to that of both membrane-bound BT-R(1) in Sf21 cells and natural BT-R(1) from M. sexta larval midgut tissue. Binding of radiolabeled toxin to soluble BT-R(1) was competitively inhibited by unlabeled Cry1Ab toxin but not by other Cry toxins as was observed also for membrane-bound BT-R(1). The recombinant soluble protein was stable in culture medium for at least 3 days at 27 degrees C and for 7 days at 4 degrees C and exhibited toxin-binding properties similar to the natural protein. Apparently, neither membrane association nor the extent of glycosylation influences the binding affinity and specificity of BT-R(1). Approximately 1 mg of purified BT-R(1) was obtained per liter of insect cell culture supernatant, representing approximately 2 x 10(9) Sf21 cells.     

可溶性VEGF受体Flt-1的基因克隆及其活性产物在原核中的表达

可溶性血管内皮细胞生长因子受体 ( Flt- 1 )具有受体拮抗剂作用 ,可竞争结合血管内皮细胞生长因子 ,( VEGF)并与其膜表面受体 Flt- 1及 KDR形成异源二聚体 ,最终阻断 VEGF的生物学活性 .利用 RT- PCR技术从人脐静脉内皮细胞扩增出 Flt- 1胞外 ～ 区 c DNA片段 ,通过基因重组将该片段克隆于谷胱甘肽转移酶 ( GST)融合蛋白表达载体 PGEX2 -T中 ,连接产物转化大肠杆菌XL1 - blue,经 IPTG诱导可获大量稳定表达的 Flt- 1 - GST融合蛋白 .该表达产物经变性复性处理后 ,可特异性结合 12 5 - VEGF.大量具有活性的可溶性 Flt- 1的获得有助于新的抗肿瘤血管形成方法的探索 .     

A domain composed of epidermal growth factor-like structures of human thrombomodulin is essential for thrombin binding and for protein C activation

Thrombomodulin, an endothelial thrombin receptor, acts as a cofactor for the thrombin-catalyzed activation of anticoagulant protein C. The extracellular region of human thrombomodulin consists of three tentative domains, a NH2-terminal domain (D1), a domain involving six consecutive epidermal growth factor-like structures (D2), and an O-glycosylation-rich domain (D3). To identify the domain onto which thrombin binds, a series of recombinant proteins corresponding to the entire protein, D1, D2, D1 + D2, D1 + D2 + D3, and D2 + D3 were expressed in simian COS-1 cells. The proteins were partially purified by rabbit anti-thrombomodulin-F(ab')2-agarose chromatography. Western blotting analysis showed the expression of the respective recombinant proteins. All proteins involving D2, as well as D2 alone, had cofactor activity that allowed binding directly to thrombin, but D1 did not. The cofactor activity of the entire protein but not the mutants is increased in the presence of phospholipids and this is the only protein that binds to the phospholipid layer. These results indicate that the domain involving the epidermal growth factor-like structures of thrombomodulin is essential for thrombin binding and expression of the cofactor activity for protein C activation and that none of the extracellular domains interact with phospholipids.