重构酿酒酵母N-糖基化途径生产人源化糖蛋白

【目的】为了在酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)中生产人源化的糖蛋白,必须对N-糖基化途径进行基因工程改造。作者通过敲除一些酵母N-糖基化途径中的特异性糖基转移酶,得到一株可以用于继续表达人类糖基转移酶的重组菌,并通过生长适应性进化技术回复其细胞生长能力。【方法】首先运用酵母遗传学和分子生物学技术敲除酿酒酵母的α-1,3-甘露糖基转移酶基因(ALG3)、α-1,6-甘露糖基转移酶基因(OCH1)和α-1,3-甘露糖基转移酶基因(MNN1)。采用蔗糖酶(invertase)活性染色实验初步检测N-糖链的变化,然后通过高效液相色谱和甘露糖苷酶酶切实验对其糖链结构进行鉴定。重组菌通过在高温条件下进行生长适应性进化,筛选出生长能力回复突变的菌株。【结果与结论】构建了Δalg3Δoch1Δmnn1菌株得到人类糖基化中间体Man5GlcNAc2,并对上述三缺陷型菌株进行适应性进化提高其细胞生长能力和环境适应能力。此外,作者还发现,该重组菌存在少量Man6GlcNAc2结构的糖链。经体外α-1,2-甘露糖苷酶切处理后,糖链Man5GlcNAc2和Man6GlcNAc2均转化为Man3GlcNAc2,表明形成Man3GlcNAc2之后的甘露糖之间均通过α-1,2-糖苷键连接。Δalg3Δoch1Δmnn1菌株的构建获得了生产人源化糖蛋白的酿酒酵母表达系统,为进一步糖基化改造和工业应用提供了良好的基础。     

酵母表达人源化糖蛋白研究进展

与人体天然复杂型糖蛋白相比,使用酵母生产的药用蛋白带有高甘露糖型N-糖链。这一差异在临床应用中产生了许多不良影响。目前,可以通过消除酵母特有的内源糖基化反应,引入哺乳动物细胞中的一系列糖基转移酶及转运蛋白对酵母糖基化路径进行改造,从而使其表达出人源化的复杂型N-聚糖。本文介绍了酵母N-糖基化特点、糖基化不均一性,综述了近年来利用基因工程改造酵母N-糖基化路径获得特定的人源N-连接糖蛋白以及使用内切糖苷酶生产人源糖蛋白的研究进展,并且对存在的问题及今后的发展前景进行了讨论。     

糖蛋白药物表达系统糖基化研究进展

随着基因重组技术的不断发展和蛋白糖基化机制研究的不断深入,糖蛋白药物对人类健康的重要作用越来越受到重视.迄今为止,哺乳动物表达载体仍然是最常见的药用蛋白生产系统.由于其存在成本高、产率低等问题,酵母和细菌表达系统也日益受到重视.受到理论和技术的限制,细菌表达系统的开发仍存在相当大的困难,而酵母表达系统的开发和应用已经取得了一系列突破性的成果.本文综述了国内外近年来改造不同表达系统N-糖基化途径用于生产人源糖蛋白的研究进展.     

重组人卵泡刺激素在昆虫细胞中的表达

为了研究在昆虫细胞中表达重组人卵泡刺激素,我们以人胎盘组织提取的染色体DNA为模板,利用重叠PCR方法扩增出hFSHβ亚基的cDNA的编码区。将此cDNA克隆入核型多角体病毒(AcNPV)非融合蛋白基因表达载体pVLl393,我们得到了表达载体pVLl393-hFSHβ,然后与BaculoGold^TM线性杆状病毒DNA共转染昆虫细胞SF9,经多次扩增后获得高滴度的重组病毒AcNPV-hFSHβ。将此重组病毒感染昆虫细胞,我们得到了在胞浆中表达的hFSHβ亚基,Western blot显示分子量大约为21kDa。以重组病毒AcNPV-hFSHβ与AcNPV-hCGoL一同感染昆虫细胞得到了具有分泌性的重组hFSH异二聚体,在非还原的条件下Western blot显示分子量大约为33kDa。     

庚型肝炎病毒包膜糖蛋白E2基因在昆虫细胞中的表达

用PCR扩增出HGV E2全基因,克隆进杆状病毒表达载体pFASTBACHTa中,构建成重组转座载体pFASTBAC-E2,转化DH10BAC大肠杆菌感受态细胞,筛选阳性菌落,抽提大分子质粒DNA,获得含HGV E2基因的重组杆状病毒穿梭载体,转染昆虫草地夜蛾Sf9细胞,出现细胞病变后,收集含有重组病毒颗粒的培养上清,重新感染草地夜蛾Sf9单层细胞及甜菜夜蛾幼虫,分别收集Sf9细胞和甜菜夜蛾幼虫体内的血淋巴细胞,进行12%SDS-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳,可见表达的融合蛋白带,经亲和层析进行蛋白纯化,用ELISA方法检测各类血清标本,初步研究HGV E2糖蛋白的抗原性.     

庚型肝炎病毒包膜糖蛋白E2基因在昆虫细胞中的表达

用ＰＣＲ扩增出ＨＧＶＥ２全基因,克隆进杆状病毒表达载体ｐＦＡＳＴＢＡＣＨＴａ中,构建成重组转座载体ｐＦＡＳＴＢＡＣＥ２,转化ＤＨ１０ＢＡＣ大肠杆菌感受态细胞,筛选阳性菌落,抽提大分子质粒ＤＮＡ,获得含ＨＧＶＥ２基因的重组杆状病毒穿梭载体,转染昆虫草地夜蛾Ｓｆ９细胞,出现细胞病变后,收集含有重组病毒颗粒的培养上清,重新感染草地夜蛾Ｓｆ９单层细胞及甜菜夜蛾幼虫,分别收集Ｓｆ９细胞和甜菜夜蛾幼虫体内的血淋巴细胞,进行１２％ＳＤＳ聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳,可见表达的融合蛋白带,经亲和层析进行蛋白纯化,用ＥＬＩＳＡ方法检测各类血清标本,初步研究ＨＧＶＥ２糖蛋白的抗原性     

人源化单克隆抗体研究进展

尽管通过几种展示文库和转基因小鼠已经可以制备人源单克隆抗体,但是人源化鼠源单克隆抗体使之用于人体治疗仍为抗体研究领域的热点。本文总结了单克隆抗体人源化的几种方法,并对其将来的发展进行了展望。     

人源化抗体研究历程及发展趋势

单克隆抗体从问世到目前广泛应用于临床,经历了一段曲折的发展历程。其中人源化抗体是一个重要的里程碑,并伴随着一系列重大的技术革新,如PCR技术、抗体库技术、转基因动物等。人源化抗体的形式也从最初的嵌合抗体、改型抗体等逐步发展为今天的人抗体。抗体人源化已经成为治疗性抗体的发展趋势,同时各种抗体衍生物也不断涌现,它们从不同角度克服抗体本身的应用局限,也为治疗人类疾病提供了更多利器。对单克隆抗体进行改造使之应用于临床治疗,不仅需要对抗体效应机制进行更细致深入的研究,同时还有赖于对人类免疫系统调控机制的全面精确认识。     

抗体人源化及人源抗体研究技术

抗体研究已有百余年的历史,但直到20世纪70年代,随着杂交瘤技术的问世,抗体的制备和生产技术才实现革命性的突破。近年来,抗体以其高靶向性成为一大类新型诊断和治疗剂,在疾病的诊断和治疗中得到了广泛的应用。目前治疗性抗体药物在全球生物技术药品的市场份额己位居第二。同时,     

人源化鼠抗人纤维蛋白单链抗体-尿激酶融合蛋白在大肠杆菌中的功能性表达

尿激酶是目前临床上广泛使用的一种有效的溶栓制剂 ,但由于尿激酶缺乏对血栓的特异亲和性 ,导致临床上尿激酶的使用剂量较大 ,容易出现全身性出血等副作用。因而开发对血栓特异的导向溶栓制剂是目前溶栓药研制的一个重要方向。本实验室在以前的工作中 ,利用噬菌体表面呈现技术 ,筛选到一种对人纤维蛋白特异的鼠单链抗体[1 ] ,在对该鼠抗体可变区进行结构模建的基础上[2 ] ,对其进行了人源化改造和体外亲和力成熟 ,得到亲和力和特异性较鼠抗体更好的人源化单链抗体[3 ] 。为研制导向溶栓制剂 ,本实验室构建了人源化单链抗体 低分子量尿激酶的…     

GlycoVis: visualizing glycan distribution in the protein N-glycosylation pathway in mammalian cells

Glycosylation has profound effects on the quality of recombinant proteins produced in mammalian cells. The biosynthetic pathways of N-linked glycans on glycoproteins involves a relatively small number of enzymes and nucleotide sugars. Many of these glycoconjugate enzymes can utilize multiple N-glycans as substrates, thus generating a large number of glycan intermediates, and making the biosynthetic pathway resemble a network with diverging and converging paths. The N-glycans on secreted glycoprotein molecules include not only terminal glycans, but also pathway intermediates. To better assess the glycan distribution and the potential route of their synthesis, we created GlycoVis, a visualization program that displays the distribution and the potential reaction paths leading to each N-glycan on the reaction network. The substrate specificities of the enzymes involved were organized into a relationship matrix. With the input of glycan distribution data, the program outputs a reaction pathway map which labels the relative abundance levels of different glycans with different colors. The program also traces all possible reaction paths leading to each glycan and identifies each pathway on the map. Glycoform distribution of Chinese Hamster Ovary cell-derived tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), and human and mouse IgG were used as illustrations for the application of GlycoVis. In addition, the intracellular and secreted IgG from an NS0 producer cell line were isolated, and their glycoform profiles were displayed using GlycoVis for comparison. This visualization tool facilitates the analysis of potential reaction paths utilized under different physiological or culture conditions, and may provide insight on the potential targets for metabolic engineering.     

Vortex flow filtration of mammalian and insect cells

The use of vortex flow filtration for harvesting cells or conditioned medium from large scale bioreactors has proven to be an efficient, low shear method of cell concentration and conditioned medium clarification. Several 8–10 L batches of the human histiocytic lymphoma U-937 cell line (ATCC CRL 1593) were concentrated to less than 1 L by vortex flow filtration through a 3.0 m membrane. An aggressive filtration regimen caused a 17% loss of cell viability and a 32% loss of IL-4 receptor binding capacity when compared to a batch centrifuged control. A reduction of the rotor speed from 1500 to 500 RPM and reduction of system back pressure from 10 to 0 PSIG resulted in cell viability and IL-4 binding capacity comparable to the control. Several 10 L batches of baculovirus infected Sf-9 cells were also concentrated to less than 1 L by vortex flow filtration through a 3.0 m membrane. SDS-PAGE analysis of filtrate samples showed that aggressive filtration caused cell damage which led to contamination of the process stream by cellular lysate. When rotor speed was reduced to 500 RPM and system back pressure was reduced to 0 PSIG, the amount of contaminating lysate proteins in filtrate samples was comparable to a batch centrifuged control.     

Changes in N-glycosylation of human stromal cells by telomerase expression

It was established that remarkable changes in the N-glycosylation are induced in immortalized cancer cells. Whether changes were induced in human stromal cells immortalized by transfection with the human telomerase catalytic subunit (hTert) cDNA was examined by lectin blot analysis. Morphological appearance and growth rate of the gene-transfected stromal cells were not changed significantly. However, lectin blot analysis of membrane glycoprotein samples showed that bindings of Ricinus communis agglutinin-I (RCA-I) and of leuko-agglutinating phytohemagglutinin to glycoprotein bands increase significantly in the gene-transfected cells. No lectin binding was observed when blotted filters were treated with diplococcal beta-1,4-galactosidase or N-glycanase prior to incubation with RCA-I. In contrast, no changes in Coomassie brilliant blue-staining and in binding of concanavalin A were obtained between the primary and gene-transfected stromal cells. These results indicate that the highly branched N-glycosylation with augmented galactosylation is induced in human stromal cells immortalized by the telomerase expression.     

Posttranslational N-glycosylation takes place during the normal processing of human coagulation factor VII

N-glycosylation is normally a cotranslational process that occurs during translocation of the nascent protein to the endoplasmic reticulum. In the present study, however, we demonstrate posttranslational N-glycosylation of recombinant human coagulation factor VII (FVII) in CHO-K1 and 293A cells. Human FVII has two N-glycosylation sites (N145 and N322). Pulse-chase labeled intracellular FVII migrated as two bands corresponding to FVII with one and two N-glycans, respectively. N-glycosidase treatment converted both of these band into a single band, which comigrated with mutated FVII without N-glycans. Immediately after pulse, most labeled intracellular FVII had one N-glycan, but during a 1-h chase, the vast majority was processed into FVII with two N-glycans, demonstrating posttranslational N-glycosylation of FVII. Pulse-chase analysis of N-glycosylation site knockout mutants demonstrated cotranslational glycosylation of N145 but primarily or exclusively posttranslational glycosylation of N322. The posttranslational N-glycosylation appeared to take place in the same time frame as the folding of nascent FVII into a secretion-competent conformation, indicating a link between the two processes. We propose that the cotranslational conformation(s) of FVII are unfavorable for glycosylation at N332, whereas a more favorable conformation is obtained during the posttranslational folding. This is the first documentation of posttranslational N-glycosylation of a non-modified protein in mammalian cells with an intact N-glycosylation machinery. Thus, the present study demonstrates that posttranslational N-glycosylation can be a part of the normal processing of glycoproteins.     

人朊蛋白不同N-糖基化修饰突变体的构建及其在哺乳动物细胞中表达

构建并表达人朊蛋白N-糖基化修饰位点突变的真核表达载体,有助于进一步研究朊蛋白N-糖基化修饰的生物学功能。定点突变野生型人朊蛋白基因PRNP,将获得的突变体亚克隆至真核表达载体pcDNA3.1中,并在人宫颈癌细胞株HeLa中瞬时表达各种朊蛋白糖基化修饰位点突变体,利用免疫印迹和糖苷酶消化等糖蛋白分析方法鉴定表达产物的糖基化形式。经Western blot鉴定,野生型和突变型朊蛋白表达产物出现不同形式的泳动特征,分别出现特异性糖基化修饰的多个条带,单糖基化修饰的两条条带和无糖基化修饰的一条条带。经PNGase F糖苷酶消化,野生型和糖基化单点突变型表达产物均能被糖苷酶消化,其分子量下移,去糖基化突变型表达产物的分子条带位置不变。通过突变野生型人朊蛋白基因PRNP的N-糖基化修饰位点,获得单糖基化修饰和去N-糖基化修饰的6种人朊蛋白突变体,并能够在HeLa细胞株中瞬时表达单糖基化修饰和去N-糖基化修饰朊蛋白,为进一步研究朊蛋白的相关功能建立良好基础。     

Stable expression of mammalian beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase extends the N-glycosylation pathway in insect cells

An established lepidopteran insect cell line (Sf9) was cotransfected with expression plasmids encoding neomycin phosphotransferase and bovine beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase. Neomycin-resistant transformants were selected, assayed for beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase activity, and the transformant with the highest level of enzymatic activity was characterized. Southern blots indicated that this transformed Sf9 cell derivative contained multiple copies of the galactosyltransferase- encoding expression plasmid integrated at a single site in its genome. One-step growth curves showed that these cells supported normal levels of baculovirus replication. Baculovirus infection of the transformed cells stimulated beta 1,4-galactosyltransferase activity almost 5-fold by 12 h postinfection. This was followed by a gradual decline in activity, but the infected cells still had about as much activity as uninfected controls as late as 48 h after infection and they were able to produce a beta 1,4-galactosylated virion glycoprotein during infection. Infection of the transformed cells with a conventional recombinant baculovirus expression vector encoding human tissue plasminogen activator also resulted in the production of a galactosylated end-product. These results demonstrate that stable transformation can be used to add a functional mammalian glycosyltransferase to lepidopteran insect cells and extend their N- glycosylation pathway. Furthermore, stably-transformed insect cells can be used as modified hosts for conventional baculovirus expression vectors to produce foreign glycoproteins with "mammalianized" glycans which more closely resemble those produced by higher eucaryotes.      

Evidence for a sialic acid salvaging pathway in lepidopteran insect cells

We previously described a transgenic insect cell line, Sfbeta4GalT/ST6, that expresses mammalian beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase and alpha2,6-sialyltransferase genes and produces glycoproteins with terminally sialylated N-glycans. The ability of these cells to produce sialylated N-glycans was surprising because insect cells contain only small amounts of sialic acid and no detectable CMP-sialic acid. Thus, it was of interest to investigate potential sources of sialic acids for sialoglycoprotein synthesis by these cells. We found that Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 cells can produce sialylated N-glycans when cultured in the presence but not in the absence of fetal bovine serum. The serum component(s) supporting N-glycan sialylation by Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 cells is relatively large-it was not removed by dialysis in a 50,000-molecular-weight cutoff membrane. Serum-free media supplemented with purified fetuin but not asialofetuin supported N-glycan sialylation by Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 cells. The terminally sialylated N-glycans isolated from fetuin also supported glycoprotein sialylation by Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 cells. Finally, serum-free medium supplemented with N-acetylneuraminic acid or N-acetylmannosamine supported glycoprotein sialylation by Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 cells but to a much lower degree than serum or fetuin. These results provide the first evidence of a sialic acid salvaging pathway in insect cells, which begins to explain how Sfbeta4GalT/ST6 and other transgenic insect cell lines can sialylate recombinant glycoproteins in the absence of a more obvious source of CMP-sialic acid.     

Haloferax volcanii AglB and AglD are involved in N-glycosylation of the S-layer glycoprotein and proper assembly of the surface layer

In this study, the effects of deleting two genes previously implicated in Haloferax volcanii N-glycosylation on the assembly and attachment of a novel Asn-linked pentasaccharide decorating the H. volcanii S-layer glycoprotein were considered. Mass spectrometry revealed the pentasaccharide to comprise two hexoses, two hexuronic acids and an additional 190 Da saccharide. The absence of AglD prevented addition of the final hexose to the pentasaccharide, while cells lacking AglB were unable to N-glycosylate the S-layer glycoprotein. In AglD-lacking cells, the S-layer glycoprotein-based surface layer presented both an architecture and protease susceptibility different from the background strain. By contrast, the absence of AglB resulted in enhanced release of the S-layer glycoprotein. H. volcanii cells lacking these N-glycosylation genes, moreover, grew significantly less well at elevated salt levels than did cells of the background strain. Thus, these results offer experimental evidence showing that N-glycosylation endows H. volcanii with an ability to maintain an intact and stable cell envelope in hypersaline surroundings, ensuring survival in this extreme environment.     

Computational analysis reveals abundance of potential glycoproteins in Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya

Glycosylation is the most common type of post-translational modification (PTM) and is known to affect protein stability, folding and activity. Inactivity of enzymes mediating glycosylation can result in serious disorders including colon cancer and brain disorders. Out of five main types of glycosylation, N-linked glycosylation is most abundant and characterized by the addition of a sugar group to an Asparagine residue at the N-X-S/T motif. Enzyme mediating such transfer is known as oligosaccharyl transferase (OST). It has been hypothesized before that a significant number of proteins serve as glycoproteins. In this study, we used programming implementations of Python to statistically quantify the representation of glycoproteins by scanning all the available proteome sequence data at ExPASy server for the presence of glycoproteins and also the enzyme which plays critical role in glycosylation i.e. OST. Our results suggest that more than 50% of the proteins carry N-X-S/T motif i.e. they could be potential glycoproteins. Furthermore, approximately 28-36% (1/3) of proteins possesses signature motifs which are characteristic features of enzyme OST. Quantifying this bias individually reveals that both the number of proteins tagged with N-X-S/T motif and the average number of motifs per protein is significantly higher in case of eukaryotes when compared to prokaryotes. In the light of these results we conclude that there is a significant bias in the representation of glycoproteins in the proteomes of all species and is manifested substantially in eukaryotes and claim for glycosylation to be the most common and ubiquitous PTM in cells, especially in eukaryotes.