Expression and purification of a cold-adapted group III trypsin in Escherichia coli

The recently classified group III trypsins include members like Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) trypsin Y as well as seven analogues from other cold-adapted fish species. The eight group III trypsins have been characterized from their cDNAs and deduced amino acid sequences but none of the enzymes have been isolated from their native sources. This study describes the successful expression and purification of a recombinant HP-thioredoxin-trypsin Y fusion protein in the His-Patch ThioFusion Escherichia coli expression system and its purification by chromatographic methods. The recombinant form of trypsin Y was previously expressed in Pichia pastoris making it the first biochemically characterized group III trypsin. It has dual substrate specificity towards trypsin and chymotrypsin substrates and demonstrates an increasing activity at temperatures between 2 and 21 degrees C with a complete inactivation at 30 degrees C. The aim of the study was to facilitate further studies of recombinant trypsin Y by finding an expression system yielding higher amounts of the enzyme than possible in our hands in the P. pastoris system. Also, commercial production of trypsin Y will require an efficient and inexpensive expression system like the His-Patch ThioFusion E. coli expression system described here as the enzyme is produced in very low amounts in the Atlantic cod.     

Atlantic Cod Trypsins: From Basic Research to Practical Applications

Atlantic cod trypsin I is an appropriate representative of the traditionally classified cold-adapted group I trypsins, and the recombinant form of cod trypsin Y is the only biochemically characterized member of the novel group III trypsins. Trypsin Y is adapted to lower temperatures than all other presently known trypsins. This review describes the basic characteristics of and practical uses for trypsins of Atlantic cod, as well as those of other organisms. Overexpression of the recombinant forms of cod trypsins I and Y in microorganisms is explained as well as the advantages of using site-directed mutagenesis to increase their stability toward autolysis and thermal inactivation. Trypsins appear to play a key role in the nutrition and development of marine fish. We discuss the potential use of cod trypsins as biomarkers to evaluate the nutritional status of cod larvae and describe the industrial applications of cod trypsin I and other trypsins.     

Evolution of Primary Hemostasis in Early Vertebrates

Hemostasis is a defense mechanism which protects the organism in the event of injury to stop bleeding. Recently, we established that all the known major mammalian hemostatic factors are conserved in early vertebrates. However, since their highly vascularized gills experience high blood pressure and are exposed to the environment, even very small injuries could be fatal to fish. Since trypsins are forerunners for coagulation proteases and are expressed by many extrapancreatic cells such as endothelial cells and epithelial cells, we hypothesized that trypsin or trypsin-like proteases from gill epithelial cells may protect these animals from gill bleeding following injuries. In this paper we identified the release of three different trypsins from fish gills into water under stress or injury, which have tenfold greater serine protease activity compared to bovine trypsin. We found that these trypsins activate the thrombocytes and protect the fish from gill bleeding. We found 27 protease-activated receptors (PARs) by analyzing zebrafish genome and classified them into five groups, based on tethering peptides, and two families, PAR1 and PAR2, based on homologies. We also found a canonical member of PAR2 family, PAR2-21A which is activated more readily by trypsin, and PAR2-21A tethering peptide stops gill bleeding just as trypsin. This finding provides evidence that trypsin cleaves a PAR2 member on thrombocyte surface. In conclusion, we believe that the gills are evolutionarily selected to produce trypsin to activate PAR2 on thrombocyte surface and protect the gills from bleeding. We also speculate that trypsin may also protect the fish from bleeding from other body injuries due to quick contact with the thrombocytes. Thus, this finding provides evidence for the role of trypsins in primary hemostasis in early vertebrates.     

Structural comparison of psychrophilic and mesophilic trypsins. Elucidating the molecular basis of cold-adaptation.

Structural rationalizations for differences in catalytic efficiency and stability between mesophilic and cold-adapted trypsins have been suggested from a detailed comparison of eight trypsin structures. Two trypsins, from Antarctic fish and Atlantic cod, have been constructed by homology modeling techniques and compared with six existing X-ray structures of both cold-adapted and mesophilic trypsins. The structural analysis focuses on the cold trypsin residue determinants found in a more extensive comparison of 27 trypsin sequences, and reveals a number of structural features unique to the cold-adapted trypsins. The increased substrate affinity of the psychrophilic trypsins is probably achieved by a lower electrostatic potential of the S1 binding pocket particularly arising from Glu221B, and from the lack of five hydrogen bonds adjacent to the catalytic triad. The reduced stability of the cold trypsins is expected to arise from reduced packing in two distinct core regions, fewer interdomain hydrogen bonds and from a destabilized C-terminal alpha-helix. The helices of the cold trypsins lack four hydrogen bonds and two salt-bridges, and they have poorer van der Waals packing interactions to the body of the molecule, compared to the mesophilic counterparts.     

Expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 of orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) in yeast Pichia pastoris

IGF-1 plays a key role in development, growth, and metabolism in teleost. Recombinant fish IGF-1 may be a useful tool for both theoretical research and aquaculture applications. However, using the Escherichia coli expression system has several drawbacks for producing quality fish IGF-1 protein. To explore the yeast expression system for generating fish IGF-1 protein, the cDNA coding for the mature orange-spotted grouper IGF-1 peptide without signal peptide and E domain was cloned into the secreting expression organism Pichia pastoris. Tricine-SDS-PAGE and western blotting analysis of culture medium from methanol-induced expression yeast clones demonstrated that the rgIGF-1 was secreted into the culture medium, had a molecular weight of 8.7 kDa. The production peaked at 24h of induction and the optimal pH for expression was 5.0. The recombinant protein was purified using a combined ammonium sulfate precipitation with Ni(2+) affinity chromatography. Finally, 17.9 mg of the protein was obtained from 420 ml of the culture supernatant and the purity was about 92.4%. Bioactivity of the rgIGF-1 was confirmed by the ability to stimulate proliferation of embryo cell line of grouper (GP cell line) and MFC-7 cell. The present results suggest that the Pichia pastoris expression system can be used to produce a functional rgIGF-1 for both research and aquaculture application.     

极端耐热木聚糖酶基因在大肠杆菌和毕赤酵母中的高效表达

以海栖热袍菌 (Thermotoga maritima) MSB8菌株基因组DNA为模板,通过PCR扩增出木聚糖酶（XylanaseB）基因, 将此基因克隆至大肠杆菌表达载体pET_28a（+）和毕赤酵母表达载体pPIC9K,并分别转化大肠杆菌 BL21和毕赤酵母GS115。该木聚糖酶在大肠杆菌细胞中表达量高, 但不能分泌; 而在毕赤酵母细胞的表达产物可分泌至胞外。酶学性质分析表明,此酶分子量约为40kD,其最适反应温度为90℃, 最适反应pH值为6.65,且在碱性条件下稳定,具有重要的工业应用前景。     

Production and properties of recombinant glutenin-hydrolyzing proteinases from Eurygaster integriceps Put.

cDNAs coding for a mature form of glutenin-hydrolyzing trypsin-like proteinase (referred to as glutenin-hydrolyzing proteinase 3 or GHP3) from the insect pest Eurygaster integriceps Put. and a zymogen of this proteinase containing a signal peptide required for protein secretion were cloned into vectors pPIC9 and pPIC3.5, respectively. The constructs were used for protein expression in cells of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. The recombinant protein corresponding to the mature form of the proteinase was secreted into the culture medium and possessed proteolytic activity, while the zymogen acquired activity after trypsin treatment. Both recombinant enzymes hydrolyzed high-molecular weight glutenin subunits from wheat of the variety Ege-88 and a range of other soft and durum wheat varieties. Chymotrypsin inhibitor I from potatoes and related inhibitors from seeds of plants of the subclass Asteridae, the Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor from soybeans, and bovine aprotinin had a weak inhibitory effect on the recombinant proteinases, while the Bowman-Birk trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor from soybeans did not interact with these enzymes.     

猪β防御素2成熟肽在酵母中的表达

【目的】将猪β防御素2成熟肽基因片段正确整合到酵母基因组染色体上,从而得到稳定的猪β防御素2成熟肽的毕赤酵母表达株。实现猪β防御素2成熟肽的表达。【方法】首先参考酵母偏爱密码子,设计3段引物序列,利用PCR技术扩增得到β防御2成熟肽基因,构建了重组质粒pPIC9k-GST-pBD-2和pPIC9k-pBD-2。将线性化的重组质粒电转化到毕赤酵母KM71细胞中。最后筛选得到酵母阳性克隆,通过不断调节表达条件,实现猪β防御素2成熟肽的表达。【结果】将GST-pBD-2基因序列和pBD-2基因序列分别成功整合到酵母KM71基因组中,重组毕赤酵母工程菌构建成功;重组酵母蛋白GST-pBD-2和PBD-2都成功获得了表达;PBD-2成熟肽表达上清对猪霍乱沙门氏菌弱毒株C500有一定的抑制作用。【结论】获得表达pBD-2成熟肽的酵母菌株,本实验是用真核细胞表达pBD-2成熟肽的一次探索,为后续大量表达pBD-2成熟肽方法的研究打下了基础。     

Characterization of wheat germin (oxalate oxidase) expressed by Pichia pastoris

High-level secretory expression of wheat (Triticum aestivum) germin/oxalate oxidase was achieved in Pichia pastoris fermentation cultures as an alpha-mating factor signal peptide fusion, based on the native wheat cDNA coding sequence. The oxalate oxidase activity of the recombinant enzyme is substantially increased (7-fold) by treatment with sodium periodate, followed by ascorbate reduction. Using these methods, approximately 1 g (4x10(4) U) of purified, activated enzyme was obtained following eight days of induction of a high density Pichia fermentation culture, demonstrating suitability for large-scale production of oxalate oxidase for biotechnological applications. Characterization of the recombinant protein shows that it is glycosylated, with N-linked glycan attached at Asn47. For potential biomedical applications, a nonglycosylated (S49A) variant was also prepared which retains essentially full enzyme activity, but exhibits altered protein-protein interactions.     

Development of a qRT-PCR assay to determine the relative mRNA expression of two different trypsins in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)

A fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) based quantitative RT-PCR method (qRT PCR) was developed in this study for measuring the mRNA expression of trypsins Y and I in the Atlantic cod. Atlantic cod beta-actin was used as the reference gene and standard curves were created for quantification of the mRNA expression levels. For yet unknown reasons, the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) produces several trypsins with different characteristics. Trypsin I is the most common and best characterized of these but trypsin Y is a recently discovered enzyme. The recombinant form of trypsin Y was found to have unique characteristics relative to trypsin I. The native form of trypsin Y has proven difficult to isolate from the cod and activity assays do not distinguish between the activities of trypsin I and trypsin Y. The results show that trypsin Y mRNA is expressed in a very low copy number relative to that of trypsin I (ratio of 1:1340), which may explain the difficulty of isolating the native form of trypsin Y.     

巴斯德毕赤酵母表达系统的研究进展和前景展望

巴斯德毕赤酵母经过近二十来年的发展,已经成为表达外源基因的优秀表达系统之一,成功地表达了许多重组异源蛋白。从表达菌株,表达载体等方面详细综述了毕赤酵母表达系统的优点,如：营养要求低、可高密度发酵、遗传稳定性高等;分析了可能影响巴斯德毕赤酵母表达系统的相关因素,这些因素包括外源基因的特性、基因拷贝数、产物稳定性及发酵策略等,结合这些因素和具体实践经验,就如何提高外源基因在巴斯德毕赤酵母中表达量进行了阐述;讨论了该表达系统存在的不足之处并且展望了其发展前景。     

Expression, crystallization, and three-dimensional structure of the catalytic domain of human plasma kallikrein

Plasma kallikrein is a serine protease that has many important functions, including modulation of blood pressure, complement activation, and mediation and maintenance of inflammatory responses. Although plasma kallikrein has been purified for 40 years, its structure has not been elucidated. In this report, we described two systems (Pichia pastoris and baculovirus/Sf9 cells) for expression of the protease domain of plasma kallikrein, along with the purification and high resolution crystal structures of the two recombinant forms. In the Pichia pastoris system, the protease domain was expressed as a heterogeneously glycosylated zymogen that was activated by limited trypsin digestion and treated with endoglycosidase H deglycosidase to reduce heterogeneity from the glycosylation. The resulting protein was chromatographically resolved into four components, one of which was crystallized. In the baculovirus/Sf9 system, homogeneous, crystallizable, and nonglycosylated protein was expressed after mutagenizing three asparagines (the glycosylation sites) to glutamates. When assayed against the peptide substrates, pefachrome-PK and oxidized insulin B chain, both forms of the protease domain were found to have catalytic activity similar to that of the full-length protein. Crystallization and x-ray crystal structure determination of both forms have yielded the first three-dimensional views of the catalytic domain of plasma kallikrein. The structures, determined at 1.85 A for the endoglycosidase H-deglycosylated protease domain produced from P. pastoris and at 1.40 A for the mutagenically deglycosylated form produced from Sf9 cells, show that the protease domain adopts a typical chymotrypsin-like serine protease conformation. The structural information provides insights into the biochemical and enzymatic properties of plasma kallikrein and paves the way for structure-based design of protease inhibitors that are selective either for or against plasma kallikrein.     

球孢白僵菌丝氨酸蛋白酶基因CDEP-1在毕赤酵母中的表达

我们从球孢白僵菌中克隆了丝氨酸蛋白酶Pr1类基因CDEP-1。为明确CDEP-1的功能、评价其在害虫生物防治中的潜力,需要大量制备具有生物活性的CDEP-1编码蛋白。由于大肠杆菌系统表达真核基因存在产物复性困难的问题,本文利用毕赤酵母系统来表达CDEP-1。结果表明,CDEP-1可在毕赤酵母中高效的分泌表达,而且产物活性高,甲醇诱导48h后上清液中的酶活即可达到38,266U/L。诱导表达的上清液经浓缩后进行凝胶过滤层析,得到了CDEP-1的初纯品,蛋白质含量为50mg/L。将纯化的蛋白酶CDEP-1免疫家兔,制备了CDEP-1的抗血清。Westernblotting分析表明,制备的抗血清可特异性地检测CDEP-1。     

Propeptide dependent activation of the Antarctic krill euphauserase precursor produced in yeast.

Euphauserase is a brachyurin type digestive enzyme isolated from Antarctic krill. The brachyurins belong to clan SA of the S1 family of serine endopeptidases. In this study, we demonstrate that the precursor form of recombinant euphauserase, termed pro-r-euphauserase, can be successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris. The presence of most of the 51-residue euphauserase propeptide is essential during expression, under the growth conditions of Pichia. The propeptide may be required either for correct folding or processing of the enzyme. Cod trypsin generates a fully active r-euphauserase from its precursor, which appears to be identical to the native enzyme. The mature r-euphauserase sequence contains 250 amino-acid residues including a 13-residue activation peptide, which seems to be attached to the molecule by a disulfide bond. Euphauserase shares an average sequence identity of 62% with its type I brachyurin analogue, crab collagenase I. However, the identity between these two sequences is much higher in the regions shown to be important for the broad substrate specificity and collagen binding of crab collagenase I. The type I brachyurins share only 30-40% identities with the type II brachyurins and trypsins. The low isoelectric point of euphauserase, with a calculated pI value of 3.9, is typical for the type I brachyurins.     

A trypsin homolog in amphioxus: expression, enzymatic activity and evolution

Trypsin has been documented in a variety of species including both vertebrates and invertebrates, but little is known about it in amphioxus, a model organism for insights into the origin and evolution of vertebrates. Here we identified a trypsin gene in Branchiostoma japonicum. The cDNA was 978 bp long with an ORF encoding a deduced protein of 272 amino acids. The deduced protein had an N-terminal signal peptide of 15 amino acids, a 16 activation peptide with the typical cleavage site Arg/Ile, a Tryp_SPc domain with the catalytic triad His⁷²-Asp¹¹⁸-Ser²¹⁵ and the S1 substrate binding residue Asp²⁰⁹, which are all characteristic of trypsinogens. The recombinant trypsin protein was able to hydrolyse the trypsin prototypic substrate BAEE, which was inhibited by the trypsin-specific inhibitor soybean trypsin inhibitor. Both northern blotting and tissue-section in situ hybridization demonstrated that trypsin gene was expressed in a tissue-specific manner, with most abundant levels in the hepatic caecum, mid-gut and ovary. And the whole mount in situ hybridization showed that it began to express in the middle third of the full-length primitive gut in 2-day larvae, where the hepatic caecum will form later during development. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that both amphioxus and ascidian trypsins are more closer to each other than to vertebrate trypsins, suggesting a continuous evolutionary divergence of vertebrate trypsins after split from protochordate/vertebrate common ancestor.     

Trypsin from Greenland cod, Gadus ogac. Isolation and comparative properties

Trypsin(ogen) was isolated from the pyloric ceca of Greenland cod. Greenland cod trypsin catalyzed hydrolysis of N alpha-benzoyl-DL-arginine p-nitroanilide, tosyl arginine methyl ester and protein and was inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor PMSF and other well-known trypsin inhibitors. Greenland cod trypsin was more stable at alkaline pH than at acid pH; and was inactivated by relatively low thermal treatment. Like other trypsins, the enzyme was rich in potential acidic amino acid residues but poor in basic amino acid residues and had a molecular weight of 23,500; but it had less potential disulfide pairs, less alpha-helix and a lower H phi ave than other trypsins previously characterized. Reactions catalyzed by Greenland cod trypsin were not very responsive to temperature change, such that specific activity was relatively high at low reaction temperature.     

Electrostatics of mesophilic and psychrophilic trypsin isoenzymes: qualitative evaluation of electrostatic differences at the substrate binding site

A qualitative evaluation of electrostatic features of the substrate binding region of seven isoenzymes of trypsin has been performed by using the continuum electrostatic model for the solution of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The sources of the electrostatic differences among the trypsins have been sought by comparative calculations on selective charges: all charges, conserved charges, partial charges, unique cold trypsin charges, and a number of charge mutations. As expected, most of the negative potential at the S(1) region of all trypsins is generated from Asp(189), but the potential varies significantly among the seven trypsin isoenzymes. The three cold active enzymes included in this study possess a notably lower potential at and around the S(1)-pocket compared with the warm active counterparts; this finding may be the main contribution to the increased binding affinity. The source of the differences are nonconserved charged residues outside the specificity pocket, producing electric fields at the S(1)-pocket that are different in both sign and magnitude. The surface charges of the mesophilic trypsins generally induce the S(1) pocket positively, whereas surface charges of the cold trypsins produce a negative electric field of this region. Calculations on mutants, where charged amino acids were substituted between the trypsins, showed that mutations in Loop2 (residues 221B and 224) and residue 175, in particular, were responsible for the low potential of the cold enzymes.     

Expression and characterization of recombinant human secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) protein from Pichia pastoris

The human secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) has been shown to possess anti-protease, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Its presence in saliva is believed to be a major deterrent to oral transmission of human immunodeficiency virus-1. The 11.7 kDa peptide is a secreted, nonglycosylated protein rich in disulfide bonds. Currently, recombinant SLPI is only available as an expensive bacterial expression product. We have investigated the utility of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris to produce and secrete SLPI with C-terminal c-myc and polyhistidine tags. The post-transformational vector amplification protocol was used to isolate strains with increased copy number, and culturing parameters were varied to optimize SLPI expression. Modification of the purification procedure allowed the secreted, recombinant protein to be isolated from the cell-free fermentation medium with cobalt affinity chromatography. This yeast-derived SLPI was shown to have an anti-protease activity comparable to the commercially available bacterial product. Thus, P. pastoris provides an efficient, cost-effective system for producing SLPI for structure function analysis studies as well as a wide array of potential therapeutic applications.     

Expression system for synthesis and purification of recombinant human growth hormone in Pichia pastoris and structural analysis by MALDI-ToF Mass Spectrometry

An expression system in Pichia pastoris for the production and purification of recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH) was designed and implemented. hGH cDNA sequence was cloned into pPICZalphaA vector under the control of AOX1 promoter, which included a polyhistidine-tag on the amino terminal end to enable affinity purification and a target site for Factor Xa protease such that protease cleavage in vitro would produce rhGH without any non-native N- and C-termini. Analyses of the affinity-purified rhGH product by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) showed a spectral peak at m/z 23699. Purified product digested with Factor Xa protease had a molecular mass of 22132 kDa. The molecular mass difference before and after Factor Xa protease digestion expectedly corresponds to the 12 amino acids in the rhGH amino terminus, which includes the EcoRI digestion site (Glu-Phe), the 6xHis tag for affinity purification, and the Factor Xa protease recognition sequence (Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg), a result that also indicates that the signal peptide was properly processed by P. pastoris. N-Terminal sequence analysis of the Factor Xa protease trimmed recombinant product confirmed the mature hGH sequence. Thus, the system designed functioned with its intended purpose effectively in expression, cleavage, and purification of the recombinant product.     

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of Two Isoforms of Trypsinogen from Anchovy Pyloric Ceca

Complementary DNA clones encoding two isoforms of trypsinogen were isolated from the pyloric ceca of anchovy by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Nucleotide sequences of isolated clones encoded, in addition to characteristic signal and activation peptides, two isoforms of trypsin containing 220 and 221 amino acid residues. Both enzymes contained the catalytic triad of a serine protease, together with the residues determining substrate specificity. The anchovy trypsins showed a high amino acid identity of about 80% to those of other fish species. Southern blot analysis with a probe cross-reactive to both isoforms showed a complex genomic pattern. Northern blot analysis with the same probe revealed the highest expression of meassenger RNA in the pyloric ceca. Structural parameters possibly involved in higher catalytic properties of fish trypsin were examined by three-dimensional modeling, which included deletion in the autolysis loop, lack of Tyr-151 at the entrance of the S1 pocket, and distribution of charged residues. Received May 30, 2000; accepted August 15, 2000