Solubility enhancement of aggregation-prone heterologous proteins by fusion expression using stress-responsive <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>protein,RpoS

Background  

The most efficient method for enhancing solubility of recombinant proteins appears to use the fusion expression partners. Although commercial fusion partners including maltose binding protein and glutathione-S-transferase have shown good performance in enhancing the solubility, they cannot be used for the proprietory production of commercially value-added proteins and likely cannot serve as universal helpers to solve all protein solubility and folding issues. Thus, novel fusion partners will continue to be developed through systematic investigations including proteome mining presented in this study.     

Protein solubility and differential proteomic profiling of recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> overexpressing double-tagged fusion proteins

Background  

Overexpression of recombinant proteins usually triggers the induction of heat shock proteins that regulate aggregation and solubility of the overexpressed protein. The two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE)-mass spectrometry approach was used to profile the proteome of Escherichia coli overexpressing N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 2-epimerase (GlcNAc 2-epimerase) and N -acetyl-D-neuraminic acid aldolase (Neu5Ac aldolase), both fused to glutathione S-transferase (GST) and polyionic peptide (5D or 5R).     

Expression of recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clostridium difficile</Emphasis> toxin A and B in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus megaterium</Emphasis>

Background  

Major Clostridium difficile virulence factors are the exotoxins TcdA and TcdB. Due to the large size and poor stability of the proteins, the active recombinant TcdA and TcdB have been difficult to produce.     

Overproduced <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brucella abortus</Emphasis> PdhS-mCherry forms soluble aggregates in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>, partially associating with mobile foci of IbpA-YFP

Background  

When heterologous recombinant proteins are produced in Escherichia coli, they often precipitate to form insoluble aggregates of unfolded polypeptides called inclusion bodies. These structures are associated with chaperones like IbpA. However, there are reported cases of "non-classical" inclusion bodies in which proteins are soluble, folded and active.     

Simplified screening for the detection of soluble fusion constructs expressed in <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis> using a modular set of vectors

Background  

The solubility of recombinant proteins expressed in bacteria is often disappointingly low. Several strategies have been developed to improve the yield and one of the most common strategies is the fusion of the target protein with a suitable partner. Despite several reports on the successful use of each of these carriers to increase the solubility of some recombinant proteins, none of them was always successful and a combinatorial approach seems more efficient to identify the optimal combination for a specific protein. Therefore, the efficiency of an expression system critically depends on the speed in the identification of the optimal combination for the suitable fusion candidate in a screening process. This paper describes a set of expression vectors (pETM) designed for rapid subcloning, expression and subsequent purification using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC).     

Target selection of soluble protein complexes for structural proteomics studies

Background  

Protein expression in E. coli is the most commonly used system to produce protein for structural studies, because it is fast and inexpensive and can produce large quantity of proteins. However, when proteins from other species such as mammalian are produced in this system, problems of protein expression and solubility arise [1]. Structural genomics project are currently investigating proteomics pipelines that would produce sufficient quantities of recombinant proteins for structural studies of protein complexes. To investigate how the E. coli protein expression system could be used for this purpose, we purified apoptotic binary protein complexes formed between members of the Caspase Associated Recruitment Domain (CARD) family.     

Quantification of the physiochemical constraints on the export of spider silk proteins by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmonella</Emphasis> type III secretion

Background  

The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a molecular machine in gram negative bacteria that exports proteins through both membranes to the extracellular environment. It has been previously demonstrated that the T3SS encoded in Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 (SPI-1) can be harnessed to export recombinant proteins. Here, we demonstrate the secretion of a variety of unfolded spider silk proteins and use these data to quantify the constraints of this system with respect to the export of recombinant protein.     

Encapsulated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> in alginate beads capable of secreting a heterologous pectin lyase

Background  

Production of heterologous proteins in the E. coli periplasm, or into the extracellular fluid has many advantages; therefore naturally occurring signal peptides are selected for proteins translocation. The aim of this study was the production in high yields of a recombinant pectin lyase that is efficiently secreted and the encapsulation of transformed E. coli cells for pectin degradation in a biotechnological process.     

The evaluation of the factors that cause aggregation during recombinant expression in E. coli is simplified by the employment of an aggregation-sensitive reporter

Background  

The yields of soluble recombinant proteins expressed in bacteria are often low due to the tendency of the heterologous proteins to form aggregates. Therefore, aggregation reporters have been envisaged to simplify the comparison among different expression conditions and to speed up the identification of suitable protocols that improve the solubility. The probe we used is composed by an IbpAB promoter specifically activated by protein aggregates fused to a sequence coding the β-galactosidase, the activity of which becomes, therefore, indicative of the aggregation degree.     

Production of recombinant antibody fragments in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus megaterium</Emphasis>

Background  

Recombinant antibodies are essential reagents for research, diagnostics and therapy. The well established production host Escherichia coli relies on the secretion into the periplasmic space for antibody synthesis. Due to the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, only a fraction of this material reaches the medium. Recently, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus megaterium was shown to efficiently secrete recombinant proteins into the growth medium. Here we evaluated B. megaterium for the recombinant production of antibody fragments.     

Fed-batch process for the psychrotolerant marine bacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis</Emphasis>

Background  

Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis is a cold-adapted γ-proteobacterium isolated from Antarctic sea ice. It is characterized by remarkably high growth rates at low temperatures. P. haloplanktis is one of the model organisms of cold-adapted bacteria and has been suggested as an alternative host for the soluble overproduction of heterologous proteins which tend to form inclusion bodies in established expression hosts. Despite the progress in establishing P. haloplanktis as an alternative expression host the cell densities obtained with this organism, which is unable to use glucose as a carbon source, are still low. Here we present the first fed-batch cultivation strategy for this auspicious alternative expression host.     

Development of an improved <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis</Emphasis> TAC125 strain for recombinant protein secretion at low temperature

Background  

In a previous paper, we reported the accomplishment of a cold gene-expression system for the recombinant secretion of heterologous proteins in Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125. This system makes use of the psychrophilic α-amylase from P. haloplanktis TAB23 as secretion carrier, and allows an effective extra-cellular addressing of recombinant proteins. However, Pseudoalteromonales are reported to secrete a wide range of extra-cellular proteases. This feature works against the efficiency of the cold-adapted secretion system, because of the proteolytic degradation of recombinant products. The aim of this study is the construction of a P. haloplanktis TAC125 mutant strain with reduced extra-cellular proteolytic activity.     

High yield expression of leptospirosis vaccine candidates LigA and LipL32 in the methylotrophic yeast <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pichia pastoris</Emphasis>

Background  

Leptospirosis, a zoonosis caused by Leptospira spp., is recognized as an emergent infectious disease. Due to the lack of adequate diagnostic tools, vaccines are an attractive intervention strategy. Recombinant proteins produced in Escherichia coli have demonstrated promising results, albeit with variable efficacy. Pichia pastoris is an alternative host with several advantages for the production of recombinant proteins.     

Evaluation of an <Emphasis Type="Italic">in silico</Emphasis> predicted specific and immunogenic antigen from the OmcB protein for the serodiagnosis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chlamydia trachomatis</Emphasis> infections

Background  

The OmcB protein is one of the most immunogenic proteins in C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae infections. This protein is highly conserved leading to serum cross reactivity between the various chlamydial species. Since previous studies based on recombinant proteins failed to identify a species specific immune response against the OmcB protein, this study evaluated an in silico predicted specific and immunogenic antigen from the OmcB protein for the serodiagnosis of C. trachomatis infections.     

Dissection of an old protein reveals a novel application: domain D of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Staphylococcus aureus</Emphasis> Protein A (sSpAD) as a secretion - tag

Background  

Escherichia coli as a frequently utilized host organism for recombinant protein production offers different cellular locations with distinct qualities. The periplasmic space is often favored for the production of complex proteins due to enhanced disulfide bond formation, increased target product stability and simplified downstream processing. To direct proteins to the periplasmic space rather small proteinaceus tags that can be used for affinity purification would be advantageous.     

Physiological responses to folate overproduction in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactobacillus plantarum</Emphasis> WCFS1

Background  

Using a functional genomics approach we addressed the impact of folate overproduction on metabolite formation and gene expression in Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1. We focused specifically on the mechanism that reduces growth rates in folate-overproducing cells.     

Rare codon content affects the solubility of recombinant proteins in a codon bias-adjusted Escherichia coli strain

Background  

The expression of heterologous proteins in Escherichia coli is strongly affected by codon bias. This phenomenon occurs when the codon usage of the mRNA coding for the foreign protein differs from that of the bacterium. The ribosome pauses upon encountering a rare codon and may detach from the mRNA, thereby the yield of protein expression is reduced. Several bacterial strains have been engineered to overcome this effect. However, the increased rate of translation may lead to protein misfolding and insolubilization. In order to prove this assumption, the solubility of several recombinant proteins from plants was studied in a codon bias-adjusted E. coli strain.     

A dynamic method based on the specific substrate uptake rate to set up a feeding strategy for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pichia pastoris</Emphasis>

Background  

Pichia pastoris is one of the most important host organisms for the recombinant production of proteins in industrial biotechnology. To date, strain specific parameters, which are needed to set up feeding profiles for fed batch cultivations, are determined by time-consuming continuous cultures or consecutive fed batch cultivations, operated at different parameter sets.     

Increasing cell biomass in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> increases recombinant protein yield: the use of a respiratory strain as a microbial cell factory

Background  

Recombinant protein production is universally employed as a solution to obtain the milligram to gram quantities of a given protein required for applications as diverse as structural genomics and biopharmaceutical manufacture. Yeast is a well-established recombinant host cell for these purposes. In this study we wanted to investigate whether our respiratory Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, TM6*, could be used to enhance the productivity of recombinant proteins over that obtained from corresponding wild type, respiro-fermentative strains when cultured under the same laboratory conditions.