Regulated expression of HIV-1 Rev function in mammalian cell lines.

In order to facilitate further investigation of Rev function, we have generated two systems for the inducible expression of Rev in mammalian cell lines (HeLa and U937) using either a tetracycline-regulated promoter or fusion of Rev to a modified form of the hormone binding domain of the estrogen receptor. In the case of the fusion of Rev to the modified hormone binding domain of the estrogen receptor, we demonstrated induction of Rev function in response to tamoxifen administration to levels comparable to that of the unmodified Rev protein. Subsequently, U937 lines were generated that retained the observed pattern of hormone-dependent function of the Rev fusion protein. In the case of the tetracycline-regulated system, cell lines (both HeLa and U937) were generated that displayed tight regulation of Rev. In the case of the HeLa cell lines, they were used for the subsequent generation of stable cell lines expressing either HIV-1 env or chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) in a Rev-dependent fashion. Using the latter cell lines, we demonstrate the ability to control Rev expression over a broad concentration range and find that, as soon as Rev expression is detectable, induction of Rev-dependent gene expression is also observed.     

Expression and purification of soluble recombinant Human Endostatin in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

Endostatin, a 20 kDa C-terminal fragment of collagen XVIII, is a specific inhibitor of endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis. In the present study, we produced soluble and biologically active recombinant human endostatin (rhEndostatin) in Escherichia coli by expressing via fusion with solubility-promoting peptides and optimizing the expression conditions. The rhEndostatin was expressed via fusion with glutathione S-transferase (GST) and NusA protein, respectively. It revealed that NusA protein enhanced the production of soluble rhEndostatin; but GST didn’t. By optimizing the expression conditions, the production of soluble NusA-rhEndostatin fusion protein was about 50% of total cellular proteins and about 90% of the products appeared in the cellular supernatant fraction. The soluble NusA-rhEndostatin fusion protein was purified by one-step hydrophobic interaction chromatography and NusA was removed by thrombin. Then rhEndostatin was purified by affinity chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. As a result, a simple and economical purification procedure for rhEndostatin isolation was obtained. The biological activity of the rhEndostatin was demonstrated in vitro using a human vascular endothelial cells (HuVECs) proliferation assay. Our study provides a feasible and convenient approach to produce soluble and biologically active rhEndostatin.     

Mitochondrial dynamics is affected by 17β-estradiol in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Effects on fusion and fission related genes

Mitochondrial dynamics, specifically fusion and fission processes, maintain mitochondria integrity and function, yet at this time, effect of estrogens on fusion and fission in breast cancer cell lines has not been studied. The aim of this study was to characterize the effect of 17β-estradiol on fusion and fission-related genes, as well as on mitochondria proliferation and function. We used MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, which is estrogen sensitive (estrogen receptor positive). Cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium charcoal-stripped fetal bovine serum and treated with 1nM of 17β-estradiol and with/without 100nM of ICI 182,780, a drug that caused rapid degradation of estrogen receptor. mRNA levels of fusion (mfn1, mfn2, opa1) and fission-related genes (drp1 and fis1) were examined by RT-PCR, cardiolipin content by N-acridyl-orange fluorescence and oxidative phosphorylation protein levels, as well as, the major fusion and fission related protein levels, by Western blot. mRNA expression of fusion-related genes increased after 17β-estradiol-treatment for 4h; however fis1 fission-related gene expression decreased. All these effects were not found in cells pre-treated with ICI 182,780, save for the changes in mfn-1, conferring them the effects of 17β-estradiol to estrogen receptor. The changes in protein levels were less prominent, but in the same way, than in mRNA levels, showing an increase in Mfn1 and Mfn2, as well as in Drp1, but there was no change in Fis1 protein levels. Mitochondrial biogenesis was also affected by 17β-estradiol, showing an increase in mtDNA but with no change in N-acridyl-orange fluorescence. On the whole, our results suggest an imbalance in the fusion/fission ratio, with a high fusion by 17β-estradiol-estrogen receptor action, which can affect to mitochondrial biogenesis, concretely in mitochondria proliferation. According to this information, 17β-estradiol would modify mitochondrial dynamics, biogenesis and metabolism, and thus compromise the normal development and function of mitochondria in cancer affected tissues.     

Characterization of factors favoring the expression of soluble protozoan tubulin proteins in Escherichia coli

The alpha- and beta-tubulin genes of the parasitic protozoa Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, and Encephalitozoon intestinalis have been overexpressed in soluble form using Escherichia coli-based expression systems. Several expression systems were compared in terms of the amount of soluble protein produced with different fusion partners, strains of E. coli BL21, and expression temperatures. The cleavability of the fusion partner was also assessed in terms of post-expression applications of the recombinant protein. The maltose-binding protein (MBP) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion partners produced the highest expression levels for all six proteins without the formation of inclusion bodies. The expression system also provided a means of purifying the soluble protein using affinity and anion-exchange chromatography while minimizing protein losses. The yield and purity were therefore very high for both the MBP and GST systems. The tubulin monomers were demonstrated to be assembly-competent using a standard dimerization assay and also retained full antigenicity with monoclonal antibodies. This study presents several methods which are suitable for producing soluble tubulin monomers and, thus, circumventing the formation of inclusion bodies which necessitates re-folding of the tubulin.     

Bioimmobilization of keratinase using Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli systems

Immobilized keratinase can improve stability while retaining its proteolytic and keratinolytic properties. Conventional purification followed by chemical immobilization is a laborious and costly process. A new genetic construct was developed to produce the keratinase-streptavidin fusion protein. Consequently, the purification and immobilization of the fusion protein onto a biotinylated matrix can be accomplished in a single step. The method was tested in both the Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli systems. In B. subtilis, the fusion protein was produced extracellularly and readily immobilized from the medium. In E. coli, the fusion protein was produced intracellularly in inclusion bodies; additional separation and renaturation processes were required prior to immobilization from the cell extract. The overall efficiencies were approximately the same, 24-28%, using both systems.     

盘状结构域受体2胞外区的可溶性表达、纯化和功能鉴定

盘状结构域受体2（discoidin domain receptor 2,DDR2）是一种与肿瘤细胞转移相关的蛋白酷氨酸激酶,其配体为纤维性胶原,胶原对DDR2的活化上调细胞中基质金属蛋白酶1（MMP－1）的表达。为研究DDR2在类风温性关节炎(rteumatoid arthritis,RA）软骨破坏和肿瘤转移中的作用,尝试了在大肠杆菌中表达一段DDR2胞外区（命名DB）,并进行了可溶性部分的纯化和功能鉴定,以备将来用作DDR2的特异性阻断剂。获得了一株表达GST－DB融合蛋白的大肠杆菌克隆;其表达的蛋白质中可溶性部分约占全部融合蛋白的13％;经GST融合蛋白特异性亲和珠纯化后,获得了纯度约86.1%的可溶性GST－DB融合蛋白;竞争结合抑制实验显示,GST－DB具有阻断Ⅱ型胶原和细胞表面天然DDR2受体结合的功能;细胞实验表明,GST－DB有抑制Ⅱ型胶原刺激下的类风湿性关节炎滑膜细胞和NIH3T3细胞分泌MMP－1的作用。以上结果提示,表达的融保蛋白GST－DB具有抑制天然DDR2功能的作用;DDR2在滑膜细胞和NIH3T3细胞中介导Ⅱ型胶原刺激下的MMP－1的分泌。     

Extra terminal residues have a profound effect on the folding and solubility of a Plasmodium falciparum sexual stage-specific protein over-expressed in Escherichia coli.

The presence of extra N- and C- terminal residues can play a major role in the stability, solubility and yield of recombinant proteins. Pfg27 is a 27K soluble protein that is essential for sexual development in Plasmodium falciparum. It was over-expressed using the pMAL-p2 vector as a fusion protein with the maltose binding protein. Six different constructs were made and each of the fusion proteins were expressed and purified. Our results show that the fusion proteins were labile and only partially soluble in five of the constructs resulting in very poor yields. Intriguingly, in the sixth construct, the yield of soluble fusion protein with an extended carboxyl terminus of 17 residues was several fold higher. Various constructs with either N-terminal or smaller C-terminal extensions failed to produce any soluble fusion protein. Furthermore, all five constructs produced Pfg27 that precipitated after protease cleavage from its fusion partner. The sixth construct, which produced soluble protein in high yields, also gave highly stable and soluble Pfg27 after cleavage of the fusion. These results indicate that extra amino acid residues at the termini of over-expressed proteins can have a significant effect on the folding of proteins expressed in E. coli. Our data suggest the potential for development of a novel methodology, which will entail construction of fusion proteins with maltose binding protein as a chaperone on the N-terminus and a C-terminal 'solubilization tag'. This system may allow large-scale production of those proteins that have a tendency to misfold during expression.     

A new tagging system for production of recombinant proteins in Drosophila S2 cells using the third domain of the urokinase receptor

The use of protein fusion tag technology greatly facilitates detection, expression and purification of recombinant proteins, and the demands for new and more effective systems are therefore expanding. We have used a soluble truncated form of the third domain of the urokinase receptor as a convenient C-terminal fusion partner for various recombinant extracellular human proteins used in basic cancer research. The stability of this cystein-rich domain, which structure adopts a three-finger fold, provides an important asset for its applicability as a fusion tag for expression of recombinant proteins. Up to 20mg of intact fusion protein were expressed by stably transfected Drosophila S2 cells per liter of culture using this strategy. Purification of these secreted fusion proteins from the conditioned serum free medium of S2 cells was accompanied by an efficient one-step immunoaffinity chromatography procedure using the immobilized anti-uPAR monoclonal antibody R2. An optional enterokinase cleavage site is included between the various recombinant proteins and the linker region of the tag, which enables generation of highly pure preparations of tag-free recombinant proteins. Using this system we successfully produced soluble and intact recombinant forms of extracellular proteins such as CD59, C4.4A and vitronectin, as well as a number of truncated domain constructs of these proteins. In conclusion, the present tagging system offers a convenient general method for the robust expression and efficient purification of a variety of recombinant proteins.     

In vitro binding of the Salmonella dublin virulence plasmid regulatory protein SpvR to the promoter regions of spvA and spvR.

The spv regulon of Salmonella dublin is essential for virulence in mice. SpvR, a LysR-type regulator, induces the expression of the spvABCD operon and its own expression in the stationary phase of bacterial growth and in macrophages. We constructed fusion proteins to the maltose-binding protein (MBP) and a His tag peptide (His) to overcome the insolubility and to facilitate purification of SpvR. We demonstrated that both fusion proteins, MBP-SpvR and His-SpvR, were able to induce spvA expression in vivo. MBP-SpvR was produced as soluble protein, whereas His-SpvR was only marginally present in the soluble cell fraction. Affinity chromatography resulted in at least 95% pure MBP-SpvR protein and in an enrichment of His-SpvR. Gel mobility shift assay revealed that the SpvR fusion proteins were able to bind to 125-and 147-bp DNA fragments of the spvA and spvR promoter regions, respectively. DNase I footprint experiments showed that the fusion proteins protected DNA regions of 54 and 50 bp within the spvA and spvR promoter regions, respectively.     

The effect of gp130 stimulation on glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in primary hippocampal neurons

Primary hippocampal neurons from newborn rats treated with glutamate showed clear excitotoxicity. This excitotoxicity could be reversed by treatment of the cells with cytokines of the interleukin-6 family. Stimulation of gp130 on hippocampal neurons resulted in tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT3 and activation of p42 and p44 MAP kinases. Receptors for the interleukin-6 type cytokines are active in membrane bound and soluble form. To address the question whether the neurotrophic effect of interleukin-6 type cytokines requires soluble cytokine receptors we used fusion proteins of interleukin-6 coupled to the soluble interleukin-6 receptor and ciliary neurotrophic factor coupled to the soluble ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor. Ciliary neurotrophic factor was as active as the cytokine-receptor fusion protein, indicating that hippocampal neurons express ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor on the cell surface. In contrast, interleukin-6 was only active at very high concentrations whereas the fusion protein of interleukin-6 coupled to the soluble interleukin-6 receptor (Hyper-IL-6) exhibited high neurotrophic activity at the same concentrations as ciliary neurotrophic factor. These data indicate that interleukin-6 receptor expression is very low on hippocampal neurons and that gp130 stimulation can be used to rescue hippocampal neurons from excitotoxicity.     

Hormone-regulated v-rel estrogen receptor fusion protein: reversible induction of cell transformation and cellular gene expression.

We describe the construction of a v-rel estrogen receptor fusion protein (v-relER) which allows the regulation of v-rel oncoprotein activity by hormone. In the presence of estrogen, v-relER readily transformed primary chicken fibroblasts and bone marrow cells in vitro. In both cell types, v-rel-specific transformation was critically dependent on the presence of estrogen or the estrogen agonist 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT). Withdrawal of estrogen or application of an estrogen antagonist, ICI164,384 (ICI) caused a reversal of the transformed phenotype. We also demonstrate that the v-relER protein binds to NF-kappa B sites in an estrogen-dependent manner, thereby showing that sequence-specific DNA binding of v-relER is critical for the activation of its transforming capacity. In transient transfection experiments, we failed to demonstrate a clear repressor or activator function of the v-rel moiety in v-relER. However, in v-relER-transformed bone marrow cells, estrogen and OHT induced elevated mRNA levels of two cellular genes whose expression is constitutive and high in v-rel-transformed cells. These results suggest that v-rel might exert part of its activity as an activator of rel-responsive genes.     

Secretion and surface display of green fluorescent protein using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) continues to be a very useful tool in biotechnology, but soluble production of GFP and GFP-protein fusions has been difficult. In this study, we have produced yeast-enhanced green fluorescent protein (yEGFP) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a soluble, secreted product with a purified level of 6 mg/L. Expression was directed by the inducible GAL1-10 promoter and synthetic prepro leader sequence. The secretion of yEGFP by yeast was strongly dependent on temperature, with 20 degrees C induction being optimal. Use of 2 micro multicopy expression constructs elevated yields over a low-copy CEN-based system by approximately 2-fold. Yeast-enhanced GFP was also expressed as a fusion to the Aga2p mating agglutinin in order to test the secretory processing fidelity of yEGFP-protein fusions. When the cell surface anchoring protein, Aga1p, was co-overexpressed with the Aga2p-yEGFP fusion, the Aga2p-yEGFP protein was tethered to the yeast cell surface. Flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy analysis indicated that the fusion was displayed on the yeast cell surface at high levels. In the absence of high level Aga1p expression, the Aga2p-yEGFP fusion protein was instead secreted in its entirety with no detectable surface display. These findings reveal that yeast is a suitable host for secretion of GFP and GFP-protein fusions and thus could enable a wide range of biochemistry and biotechnology applications.     

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     

In vitro myogenesis : Expression of muscle specific function in the absence of cell fusion

Correlation of cell fusion with other muscle specific functions observed in vivo and in vitro has suggested the possibility that the fusion process itself might be involved in the mechanism of controlled expression of differentiated function. In order to test this possibility in primary cultures of fetal calf myoblasts, we have established conditions of Ca²⁺ depletion which block cell fusion. Under these conditions, three separate markers of muscle specific differentiation were measured: creatine phosphokinase, a soluble enzyme; myosin heavy chain, a component of the contractile apparatus; and acetylcholine receptor, an integral membrane protein. The data indicate that the expression of the three functions studied is independent of the fusion process, and therefore that cell fusion plays no major role in the switch on of differentiated gene expression.