hGH-双精氨酸C肽人胰岛素原基因的克隆表达及纯化研究

旨在提高基因重组人胰岛素在大肠杆菌中表达的稳定性及表达包涵体蛋白的复性水平.在人胰岛素原N端前融合人生长素N端的一段序列来充当前导肽,同时将C肽设计为两个精氨酸,分10段合成长链寡核苷酸链,利用重叠延伸PCR技术(SOE PCR)扩增得到该基因片段.与表达载体PET-30a连接,转化E.coli BL21(DE3),IPTG诱导表达.表达的融合蛋白采用Ni-NTA亲和层析纯化,纯化后的蛋白经复性、冻干等步骤后用胰蛋白酶,羧肽酶B双酶切再过DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow阴离子交换柱,收集洗脱峰.对制备所得的胰岛素用SDS-PAGE,Western blot进行性质鉴定,及皮下注射小鼠测定生物活性.结果显示,目的蛋白在大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中得到了表达,表达产物以不溶性包涵体形式纯在,约占大肠杆菌总蛋白的30%.经Ni-NTA亲和层析得到的重组蛋白纯度为85%,DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow阴离子交换纯化得到单组分胰岛素.Western Blot显示制备所得的胰岛素具有胰岛素免疫原性,皮下给药注射小鼠活性测定表明具有明显的降血糖活性.获得了一种高效生产基因重组人胰岛素的方法,为研究胰岛素类似物奠定了前期基础同时也为今后探索胰岛素的非注射给药途径提供了原料.     

Met-Lys-双C肽人胰岛素原基因的构建表达及分离纯化

应用 Ｐ Ｃ Ｒ 定点突变方法构建编码 Ｍ ｅｔ Ｌｙｓ 双 Ｃ 肽人胰岛素原基因,并在大肠杆菌中以包含体方式获得表达 表达产物经还原、重组、 Ｓｅｐｈａｄｅｘ Ｇ ７５ 分离纯化,获得 Ｍ ｅｔ Ｌｙｓ 双 Ｃ 肽人胰岛素原,经胰蛋白酶与羧肽酶 Ｂ的酶解, Ｒｅｓｏｕｒｃｅ Ｔ Ｍ Ｑ 阴离子交换柱层析分离制备得人胰岛素,其放免活性、受体结合活性均与猪胰岛素相同      

人胰岛素原类似物(BKRA)基因的合成与表达

为了利用基因工程生产胰岛素,按照已知的人胰岛素Ａ、Ｂ链氨基酸序列和大肠杆菌偏爱的氨基酸密码子设计并合成了人胰岛素原类似物（ＢＫＲＡ）基因,其中以赖（Ｋ）－精（Ｒ）二肽编码区取代人胰岛素原Ｃ肽编码区．为了避免其编码蛋白在大肠杆菌中表达时被降解,通过人工接头将２个ＢＫＲＡ基因串联起来,接头部分氨基酸序列为Ａｒｇ－Ａｒｇ－Ａｓｎ－Ｓｅｒ．将串联的ＢＫＲＡ基因克隆到表达载体ｐＥＴ－２８ａ（＋）,实现了在大肠杆菌中的融合表达,表达产物以包含体形式存在,约占细菌总蛋白２４％．表达产物氨基末端具有六组氨酸肽段,以ＨｉＴｒａｐ凝胶进行亲和层析,一步纯化可达纯度９５％以上．放射免疫测定表明,纯化的融合蛋白具有胰岛素抗原活性．表明已构建成人胰岛素原类似物的高效表达菌株     

Recombinant human insulin. VIII. Isolation of fusion protein--S-sulfonate, biotechnological precursor of human insulin, from the biomass of transformed Escherichia coli cells

Various methods have been investigated for the isolation and purification of fusion proteins of precursors of human insulin in the form of S-sulfonates, from the biomass of transformed Escherichia coli cells. Fusion proteins were prepared with different sizes and structures of the leader peptide and the poly-His position (inserted for purification by metal chelate affinity chromatography). The fusion proteins contained an IgG-binding B domain of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus at the N-terminus and an Arg residue between the leader peptide of the molecule and the proinsulin sequence, for trypsin cleavage of the leader peptide. Six residues of Cys in proinsulin allow the chemical modification of the protein as a (Cys-S-SO(-)(3))(6) derivative (S-sulfonate), which increases its polyelectrolytic properties and improves the efficiency of its isolation. Various methods of oxidative sulfitolysis were compared with catalysis by sodium tetrathionate or cystine and Cu2+ or Ni2+ ions. An optimum scheme for the isolation and purification of S-sulfonated fusion proteins was developed by the combination of metal-chelating affinity and ion-exchange chromatography. Highly purified (95%) S-sulfonated fusion protein was recovered which was 85% of the fusion protein contained in the biomass of E. coli cells. Folding of fusion protein S-sulfonate occurred with high yield (up to 90-95%). We found that the fusion protein-S-sulfonate has proinsulin-like secondary structure.This structure causes highly efficient fusion protein folding.     

Yeast secretory expression of insulin precursors

Since the 1980s, recombinant human insulin for the treatment of diabetes mellitus has been produced using either the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae or the prokaryote Escherichia coli. Here, development of the insulin secretory expression system in S. cerevisiae and its subsequent optimisation is described. Expression of proinsulin in S. cerevisiae does not result in efficient secretion of proinsulin or insulin. However, expression of a cDNA encoding a proinsulin-like molecule with deletion of threonine^B30 as a fusion protein with the S. cerevisiaeα-factor prepro-peptide (leader), followed either by replacement of the human proinsulin C-peptide with a small C-peptide (e.g. AAK), or by direct fusion of lysine^B29 to glycine^A1, results in the efficient secretion of folded single-chain proinsulin-like molecules to the culture supernatant. The secreted single-chain insulin precursor can then be purified and subsequently converted to human insulin by tryptic transpeptidation in organic–aqueous medium in the presence of a threonine ester. The leader confers secretory competence to the insulin precursor, and constructed (synthetic) leaders have been developed for efficient secretory expression of the insulin precursor in the yeasts S. cerevisiae and Pichia pastories. The Kex2 endoprotease, specific for dibasic sites, cleaves the leader-insulin precursor fusion protein in the late secretory pathway and the folded insulin precursor is secreted to the culture supernatant. However, the Kex2 endoprotease processing of the pro-peptide-insulin precursor fusion protein is incomplete and a significant part of the pro-peptide-insulin precursor fusion protein is secreted to the culture supernatant in a hyperglycosylated form. A spacer peptide localised between the leader and the insulin precursor has been developed to optimise Kex2 endoprotease processing and insulin precursor fermentation yield. Received: 8 February 2000 / Received revision: 2 May 2000 / Accepted: 2 May 2000     

Stabilization of recombinant proteins from proteolytic degradation in Escherichia coli using a dual affinity fusion strategy.

A dual affinity fusion approach has been used to study the expression and secretion of labile recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Here we show that three small eukaryotic proteins (human proinsulin, a thioredoxin homologous domain of rat protein disulfide isomerase, and the extracellular domain of the alpha 1.2-chain of a human T-cell receptor) are stabilized in vivo using a dual affinity fusion strategy, where the gene encoding the desired product is fused between two genes encoding two different affinity domains. Relatively high yields of full-length product were obtained for all three proteins as compared to when fused to a single fusion partner. Despite the use of a signal peptide, significant amounts of the disulfide protein isomerase and T-cell receptor gene products were maintained in the cytoplasm, while the proinsulin fusion was efficiently secreted to the periplasm. Interestingly, the E. coli heat shock proteins DnaK and GroEL were associated with the fusion proteins isolated from the cytoplasm.     

Insulin, not C-peptide (proinsulin), is present in crinophagic bodies of the pancreatic B-cell

We have obtained evidence by autoradiography and immunocytochemistry that mature secretory granules of the pancreatic B-cell gain access to a lysosomal compartment (multigranular or crinophagic bodies) where the secretory granule content is degraded. Whereas the mature secretory granule content shows both insulin and C-peptide (proinsulin) immunoreactivities, in crinophagic bodies only insulin, but not C- peptide, immunoreactivity was detectable. The absence of C-peptide (proinsulin) immunoreactivity in multigranular bodies, i.e., in early morphological stages of lysosomal digestion, was compatible with the ready access and breakdown of C-peptide and/or proinsulin by lysosomal degrading enzymes, while the insulin crystallized in secretory granule cores remained relatively protected. However, in the final stage of lysosomal digestion, i.e., in residual bodies where the secretory granule core material is no longer present, insulin immunoreactivity became undetectable. Lysosomal digestion thus appears to be a normal pathway for insulin degradation in the pancreatic B-cell.     

The Proinsulin C-peptide—A Multirole Model

The C-peptide links the insulin A and B chains in proinsulin, providing thereby a means to promote their efficient folding and assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum during insulin biosynthesis. It then facilitates the intracellular transport, sorting, and proteolytic processing of proinsulin into biologically active insulin in the maturing secretory granules of the β cells. These manifold functions impose significant constraints on the C-peptide structure that are conserved in evolution. After cleavage of proinsulin, the intact C-peptide is stored with insulin in the soluble phase of the secretory granules and is subsequently released in equimolar amounts with insulin, providing a useful independent indicator of insulin secretion. This brief review highlights many aspects of its roles in biosynthesis, as a prelude to consideration of its possible additional role(s) as a physiologically active peptide after its release with insulin into the circulation in vivo.     

Integrated bioprocess for production of human proinsulin C-peptide via heat release of an intracellular heptameric fusion protein

An integrated bioprocess has been developed suitable for production of recombinant peptides using a gene multimerization strategy and site-specific cleavage of the resulting gene product. The process has been used for production in E. coli of the human proinsulin C-peptide via a fusion protein BB-C7 containing seven copies of the 31-residues C-peptide monomer. The fusion protein BB-C7 was expressed at high level, 1.8 g l(-1), as a soluble gene product in the cytoplasm. A heat treatment procedure efficiently released the BB-C7 fusion protein into the culture medium. This step also served as an initial purification step by precipitating the majority of the host cell proteins, resulting in a 70% purity of the BB-C7 fusion protein. Following cationic polyelectrolyte precipitation of the nucleic acids and anion exchange chromatography, native C-peptide monomers were obtained by enzymatic cleavage at flanking arginine residues. The released C-peptide material was further purified by reversed-phase chromatography and size exclusion chromatography. The overall yield of native C-peptide at a purity exceeding 99% was 400 mg l(-1) culture, corresponding to an overall recovery of 56%. The suitability of this process also for the production of other recombinant proteins is discussed.     

人胰岛素原基因在大肠杆菌中高效外分泌表达

将胰岛素原基因融合到金色葡萄球菌蛋白Ａ的基因上,构建成大肠杆菌中基因融合的外分泌表达载体。它能高效表达且有效地分泌表达产物。利用亲和层析能方便地从培养液中分离出融合蛋白。融合蛋白经ＣＮＢｒ裂解后,经反相ＨＰＬＣ分析,分离得到具有天然结构的胰岛素原并进行了鉴定。     

Increased expression, folding and enzyme reaction rate of recombinant human insulin by selecting appropriate leader peptide

Five new expression vectors for recombinant human insulin production (pPT-B5Kpi, pPT-T10Rpi, pPT-T13Rpi, pPT-H27Rpi, pPT-B5Rpi), which have different sizes and leader peptide structure, were constructed and compared based on their expression level, yields of S-sulfonated preproinsulin (SSPPI) and folded proinsulin and enzymatic conversion rate. The ranking of expression level of the five fused proinsulins was H27R ? T10R > B5K > T13R ≈ B5R. In particular, the expression level of H27R was more than double (60-70%) the level of the other fused proinsulins, and this high expression level led to large amounts of SSPPI, folded proinsulin and insulin. Changes to the leader peptide structure affected not only protein expression level, but also refolding yield because the leader peptide affects protein conformation and hydrophobicity. The refolding yield of H27R was 85% at 500 L pilot scale. This high refolding yield was caused by the hydrophilic character of H27R. However, the β-mercaptoethanol concentration needed for refolding and the pH required to precipitate impurities after refolding had to be changed for high refolding yield. To avoid using CNBr, which is used to cleave fusion proteins, we used lysine and arginine linkers to connect the fusion protein and proinsulin. This fusion protein could be simultaneously cleaved by trypsin during enzymatic conversion to eliminate the C-peptide. The length and kind of leader peptide did not affect the enzyme reaction rate. Only the leader peptide linker connecting the B-chain influenced enzyme reaction rate. By testing several leader peptides, we constructed a new strain with 30% increased productivity based on expression level, refolding yield and enzyme reaction.     

Recombinant human insulin IX. Investigation of factors,influencing the folding of fusion protein-S-sulfonates,biotechnological precursors of human insulin

The peculiarities of molecular structures and the influence of reaction conditions on the folding efficiency of fusion proteins-biotechnological precursors of human insulin, expressed in Escherichia coli as inclusion bodies have been investigated. The fusion proteins contained proinsulin sequence with various leader peptides connected by an Arg residue to the insulin B-chain. The kind and the size of leader peptide do not have essential influence on folding efficiency. However, the efficiency of protein folding depends on the location of the (His)6 site, which is used for metal-chelating affinity chromatography. In our study the protein folding depends on the reaction medium composition (including additives), the presence of accompanied cell components, pH, temperature, concentrations of protein, and redox agents. A negative influence of nucleic acid and heavy metal ions on folding has been found. S-sulfonated fusion protein has proinsulin-like secondary structure (by CD-spectroscopy data) that is the key point for 95% efficient folding proceeding. Folded fusion proteins are transformed into insulin by enzymatic cleavage.     

Deletion of a highly conserved tetrapeptide sequence of the proinsulin connecting peptide (C-peptide) inhibits proinsulin to insulin conversion by transfected pituitary corticotroph (AtT20) cells

The biological function of the connecting peptide (C-peptide) of proinsulin is unknown. Comparison of all known C-peptide sequences reveals the presence of a highly conserved peptide sequence, Glu/Asp-X-Glu/Asp (X being a hydrophobic amino acid), adjacent to the Arg-Arg doublet at the B chain/C-peptide junction. Furthermore, the next amino acid in the C-peptide sequence is also acidic in many animal species. To test the possible involvement of this hydrophilic domain in insulin biosynthesis, we constructed a mutant of the rat proinsulin II gene lacking the first four amino acids of the C-peptide and expressed either the normal (INS) on the mutated (INSDEL) genes in the AtT20 pituitary corticotroph cell line. In both cases immunoreactive insulin (IRI) was stored by the cells and released upon stimulation by cAMP. In the INS expressing cells, the majority of IRI, whether stored or released in response to a secretagogue, was mature insulin. By contrast, most of the stored and releasable IRI in the INSDEL expressing cells appeared to be (mutant) proinsulin or conversion intermediate with little detectable native insulin. Release of the mutant proinsulin and/or conversion intermediates was stimulated by cAMP. These results suggest that the mutant proinsulin was appropriately targeted to secretory granules and released predominantly via the regulated pathway, but that the C-peptide deletion prevented its conversion to native insulin.     

Production of the catalytic core of human peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (hPHMcc) in Escherichia coli

Most mammalian bioactive peptides possess a C-terminal amino acid amide moiety. The presence of the C-terminal amide is a significant impediment to the recombinant production of α-amidated peptides. α-Amidated peptides are produced in vivo by the enzymatic cleavage of a precursor with a C-terminal glycine residue. Peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase catalyzes the key step in the oxidation of the glycine-extended precursors to the α-amidated peptide. Herein, we detail the production of the catalytic core of human peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (hPHMcc) in Escherichia coli possessing a N-terminal fusion to thioredoxin (Trx). Trx was fused to hPHMcc to enhance the yield of the resulting 52 kDa protein as a soluble and catalytically active enzyme. The Trx-hPHMcc-His(6) fusion was purified to homogeneity and exhibited steady-state kinetic parameters that were similar to purified rat PHMcc. The bacterial production of recombinant hPHMcc will foster efforts to generate α-amidated peptides by the co-expression of hPHMcc and the α-amidated peptide precursors in E. coli or the in vitro amidation of recombinantly expressed α-amidated peptide precursors.     

Platelet aggregation inhibitory activity of mutant proinsulin with C-peptide replaced by CRGDSC sequence

A CRGDSC peptide was introduced into an inactive human proinsulin molecule between the B30 site and A1 site to replace the C-peptide. The constructed RGD-proinsulin gene was overexpressed in E. coli and the protein purified. It showed an inhibitory activity of platelet aggregation with an IC₅₀ value of 0.35 M, while native insulin and proinsulin as controls did not exhibit any inhibitory activity. Meanwhile, the RGD-proinsulin demonstrated only 0.05% of insulin receptor binding activity and almost no insulin activity in in vivo assay.     

Acidic residues on the N-terminus of proinsulin C-Peptide are important for the folding of insulin precursor

To investigate the role of C-peptide in the folding of insulin precursor, a series of C-peptide mutant proinsulin genes were constructed, overexpressed in Escherichia coli and the proteins purified. Correct disulfide linkages of these proteins were confirmed by both tryptic peptide mapping and insulin receptor binding analyses. In vitro refolding experiments were performed with the purified proteins and showed that mutations on the glycine-rich middle segment of C-peptide, GGGPGAG, and deletion of the C-terminal pentapeptide, EGSLQ, as well as mutations on the two pairs of dibasic residues at the two ends of C-peptide did not significantly affect the refolding yields. However, both alanine replacement mutation and deletion of three highly conserved acidic residues (EAED) at the N-terminus of the C-peptide resulted in serious aggregation during refolding. The results indicate that the highly conserved acidic N-terminal part of C-peptide is very important for insulin precursor folding, and that C-peptide may have some intramolecular chaperone-like function in the folding of insulin precursor.     

Evaluation of bottlenecks in proinsulin secretion by Escherichia coli

This work evaluates three potential bottlenecks in recombinant human proinsulin secretion by Escherichia coli: protein stability, secretion capacity and the effect of molecular size on secretion efficiency. A maximum secretion level of 7.2 mg g(-1) dry cell weight was obtained in the periplasm of E. coli JM109(DE3) host cells. This value probably represents an upper limit in the transport capacity of E. coli cells secreting ZZ-proinsulin and similar proteins with the protein A signal peptide. A selective deletion study was performed in the fusion partner and no effect of the molecular size (17-24 kDa) was detected on secretion efficiency. The protective effect against proteolysis provided by the ZZ domain was thoroughly demonstrated in the periplasm of E. coli and it was also shown that a single Z domain is able to provide the same protection level without compromising the downstream processing. The use of this shorter fusion partner enables a 1.6-fold increase in the recovery of the target protein after cleavage of the affinity handle.     

Expression, purification, and characterization of a novel methyl parathion hydrolase

The mpd gene coding for a novel methyl parathion hydrolase (MPH) was previously reported and its putative open reading frame was also identified. To further confirm its coding region, the intact region encoding MPH was obtained by PCR and expressed in Escherichia coli as a hexa-His C-terminal fusion protein. The fusion protein was purified to homogeneity by metal-affinity chromatography. The enzyme activity and zymogram assay showed that the fusion protein was functional in degrading methyl parathion. The amino terminal sequencing of the purified recombinant MPH indicated that a signal peptide of the first 35 amino acids was cleaved from its precursor to form active MPH. A rat polyclonal antiserum was raised against the purified mature fusion protein. The results of Western blot and zymogram demonstrated that mature MPH in native Plesiomonas sp. strain M6 was also processed from its precursor by cleavage of a putative signal peptide at the amino terminus. The production of active MPH in E. coli was greatly improved after the coding region for the signal peptide was deleted. HPLC gel filtration of the purified mature recombinant MPH revealed that the MPH was a monomer.     

NMR and photo-CIDNP studies of human proinsulin and prohormone processing intermediates with application to endopeptidase recognition

The proinsulin-insulin system provides a general model for the proteolytic processing of polypeptide hormones. Two proinsulin-specific endopeptidases have been defined, a type I activity that cleaves the B-chain/C-peptide junction (Arg31-Arg32) and a type II activity that cleaves the C-peptide/A-chain junction (Lys64-Arg65). These endopeptidases are specific for their respective dibasic target sites; not all such dibasic sites are cleaved, however, and studies of mutant proinsulins have demonstrated that additional sequence or structural features are involved in determining substrate specificity. To define structural elements required for endopeptidase recognition, we have undertaken comparative 1H NMR and photochemical dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) studies of human proinsulin, insulin, and split proinsulin analogues as models of prohormone processing intermediates. The overall conformation of proinsulin is observed to be similar to that of insulin, and the connecting peptide is largely unstructured. In the 1H NMR spectrum of proinsulin significant variation is observed in the line widths of insulin-specific amide resonances, reflecting exchange among conformational substates; similar exchange is observed in insulin and is not damped by the connecting peptide. The aromatic 1H NMR resonances of proinsulin are assigned by analogy to the spectrum of insulin, and assignments are verified by chemical modification. Unexpectedly, nonlocal perturbations are observed in the insulin moiety of proinsulin, as monitored by the resonances of internal aromatic groups. Remarkably, these perturbations are reverted by site-specific cleavage of the connecting peptide at the CA junction but not the BC junction. These results suggest that a stable local structure is formed at the CA junction, which influences insulin-specific packing interactions. We propose that this structure (designated the "CA knuckle") provides a recognition element for type II proinsulin endopeptidase.