The refolding, purification, and activity analysis of a rice Bowman-Birk inhibitor expressed in Escherichia coli

A putative rice trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor of the Bowman-Birk family, RBBI-8 of about 20 kDa, was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein bearing an N-terminal (His)6 purification tag. The expressed recombinant protein, rRBBI-8, is insoluble and accumulates as inclusion bodies. The insoluble protein was solubilized in 8 M urea under reducing environment and then refolded into its active conformation under optimized redox conditions. Strategies used to optimize yield and efficiency include selecting the redox system, increasing protein concentration during refolding by adding the denatured protein in a stepwise way, utilizing additives to prevent aggregation, and selecting buffer-exchanging conditions. A Ni-chelate affinity column was then employed to purify the renatured protein. rRBBI-8 shows strong inhibitory activity against trypsin and it can slightly inhibit chymotrypsin. In this study, a refolding and purification system was set up for this cysteine-rich recombinant protein expressed in a prokaryotic system.     

BPTI and N-terminal extended analogues generated by factor Xa cleavage and cathepsin C trimming of a fusion protein expressed in Escherichia coli

A recombinant gene for BPTI (bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor) is expressed in Escherichia coli using a MBP (maltose-binding protein) fusion vector. BPTI is fused through an FXa (blood coagulation factor Xa protease) target sequence (Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg) to the C-terminus of MBP. The MBP moiety of the hybrid protein enables purification in one step utilizing MBP's affinity to cross-linked amylose, and the FXa target sequence allows specific cleavage of the hybrid protein. Effective FXa cleavage is achieved by spacing the FXa target sequence and Arg-1 of the BPTI sequence with four residues (Met-Glu-Ala-Glu). The resulting N-terminal extended BPTI is readily converted to the wild-type sequence by trimming with cathepsin C exopeptidase, for the activity of which the spacing tetrapeptide is optimized. FXa cleavage is prohibited when the target sequence is placed next to Arg-1. In this construction, off-target cleavage at a somewhat homologous sequence (Val-Pro-Gly-Arg) results in five- or six-residue extended BPTI, indicating new details of the FXa specificity. The yield of highly purified recombinant BPTI is 3-6 mg/liter of culture, making the MBP-BPTI expression system convenient for the production of sufficient amounts of protein for NMR studies. 1H NMR is used to analyze the N-extended BPTI analogues.     

A self-cleavable sortase fusion for one-step purification of free recombinant proteins

A new protein fusion system has been developed to generate free recombinant protein in a single affinity chromatographic step. The key component in the fusion is the catalytic core of sortase A from Staphylococcus aureus (SrtAc), which recognizes and cleaves the Thr-Gly bond at an LPXTG sequence with moderate activity. The fusion here consists of an N-terminal His6 tag, SrtAc, and an LPETG linker followed by protein of interest at the C-terminus. The fusion protein is expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC). The immobilized fusion then undergoes on-column SrtAc-mediated cleavage at the LPETG site in the presence of Ca2+ and/or triglycine. The target protein with an extra N-terminal glycine is released from the fusion while the N-terminal portion remains bound to the column. Because the cleavage enzyme SrtAc is co-expressed as a fusion with the target protein, the purification system eliminates exogenous proteolysis. This purification approach is simple, robust, inexpensive, time saving, and allows purification of free recombinant protein via one-step chromatography.     

人乳头瘤病毒18型L1蛋白的包涵体和可溶性表达及纯化

目的:原核表达系统表达人乳头瘤病毒18型(HPV18)L1蛋白,建立包涵体和可溶性表达的L1蛋白的纯化方法。方法:构建重组表达质粒p GEX-4T-1-HPV18 L1,在大肠杆菌BL21中以包涵体和可溶性方式表达HPV18 L1蛋白。通过超声波破碎菌体、洗涤包涵体、碱变性、透析复性和谷胱甘肽(GST)琼脂糖凝胶4B亲和层析纯化包涵体蛋白;在菌体中加入三磷酸腺苷(ATP)和3.5 mol/L尿素孵育后,GST 4B亲和层析纯化可溶性蛋白,凝血酶酶切。SDS-PAGE和Western印迹鉴定表达和纯化产物。结果:SDS-PAGE结果表明,HPV18 L1蛋白以包涵体和可溶性方式在大肠杆菌BL21内高效表达,均产生相对分子质量约为86 000的HPV18 L1-GST融合蛋白。Western印迹结果显示,包涵体纯化后获得的融合蛋白降解条带较多;而可溶性蛋白纯化后获得的融合蛋白未降解,凝血酶酶切后得到HPV18 L1蛋白,可与HPV18 L1蛋白单克隆抗体结合。结论:采用原核系统表达了HPV18 L1-GST融合蛋白,分别建立了包涵体和可溶性蛋白的纯化方法,获得HPV18 L1蛋白,为其进一步应用奠定了基础。     

Expression, purification, and characterization of recombinant human flotillin-1 in Escherichia coli

Human flotillin-1 (reggie-2), a major hydrophobic protein of biomembrane microdomain lipid rafts, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli with four different fusion tags (hexahistidine, glutathione S-transferase, NusA, and thioredoxin) to increase the yield. The best expressed flotillin-1 with thioredoxin tag was solubilized from inclusion bodies, first purified by immobilized metal affinity column under denaturing condition and direct refolded on column by decreasing urea gradient method. The thioredoxin tag was cleaved by thrombin, and the flotillin-1 protein was further purified by anion exchanger and gel filtration column. The purified protein was verified by denaturing gel electrophoresis and Western blot. The typical yield was 3.4 mg with purity above 98% from 1L culture medium. Using pull-down assay, the interaction of both the recombinant flotillin-1 and the native flotillin-1 from human erythrocyte membranes with c-Cbl-associated protein or neuroglobin was confirmed, which demonstrated that the recombinant proteins were functional active. This is the first report describing expression, purification, and characterization of active recombinant raft specific protein in large quantity and highly purity, which would facilitate further research such as X-ray crystallography.     

Taiwan cobra chymotrypsin inhibitor: cloning, functional expression and gene organization

A cDNA encoding chymotrypsin inhibitor was constructed from the cellular RNA isolated from the venom glands of Naja atra (Taiwan cobra). The resultant amino acid sequence showed that the mature protein is comprised of 57 amino acid residues with six cysteine residues. Cloned protein was expressed and isolated from the inclusion bodies of E. coli and refolded into a functional protein in vitro. Deleting the first three residues at its N-terminus caused a moderate increase in the inhibitory constant (K(i)) against chymotrypsin. The genomic DNA encoding the chymotrypsin inhibitor was amplified by PCR. The gene shares virtually an identical structural organization with the beta-bungarotoxin B1 chain (a snake Kunitz/BPTI neurotoxic homolog) gene. Moreover, the overall sequence identity of the N. atra chymotrypsin inhibitor and beta-bungarotoxin B1 chain genes was up to 83%. These findings strongly suggest that snake Kunitz/BPTI protease inhibitors and neurotoxic homologs may have originated from a common ancestor.     

重组类胰岛素样生长因子-Ⅰ的纯化与复性

目的 获得高纯度和高活性的胰岛素样生长因子（Insulin-like growth factor, IGF-1）;方法 构建好的BL21大肠杆菌工程菌经IPTG诱导,以融合一段截短型半乳糖苷酶及His-tag形式表达IGF-1融合蛋白(约15,000Da),超声破碎,提取包涵体经镍柱亲和层析后, 用羟氨切割纯化的融合蛋白,纯化后的蛋白质在小分子保护剂及GSH/GSSG的存在下复性。结果 经Ni2＋柱亲和层析, IGF-1纯度达90％以上,复性后得到有较高生物活性的IGF-1。结论 IGF-1发酵及纯化和复性方法的建立为大量生产IGF-1打下了基础。     

Expression, refolding, and purification of recombinant human granzyme B

Granzyme B (GrB) is a member of a family of serine proteases involved in cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-mediated killing of potentially harmful cells, where GrB induces apoptosis by cleavage of a limited number of substrates. To investigate the suitability of GrB as an enzyme for specific fusion protein cleavage, two derivatives of human GrB, one dependent on blood coagulation factor Xa (FXa) cleavage for activation and one engineered to be self-activating, were recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli. Both derivatives contain a hexa-histidine affinity tag fused to the C-terminus and expressed as inclusion bodies. These were isolated and solubilized in guanidiniumHCl, immobilized on a Ni2+-NTA agarose column, and refolded by application of a cyclic refolding protocol. The refolded pro-rGrB-H6 could be converted to a fully active form by cleavage with FXa or, for pro(IEPD)-rGrB-H6, by autocatalytic processing during the final purification step. A self-activating derivative in which the unpaired cysteine of human GrB was substituted with phenylalanine was also prepared. Both rGrB-H6 and the C228F mutant were found to be highly specific and efficient processing enzymes for the cleavage of fusion proteins, as demonstrated by cleavage of fusion proteins containing the IEPD recognition sequence of GrB.     

人vasorin蛋白的基因克隆、表达及纯化简

目的：克隆、表达人vasorin（VASN）蛋白。方法：利用PCR方法从HepG2细胞的cDNA中扩增获得目的基因,并插入带有6xHis标签的原核高效可溶性表达载体pET28a中,构建重组表达质粒pET28a-VASN,将重组表达质粒转化大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）,经IPTG诱导后目的基因获得表达,对融合目的蛋白进行Ni^2＋金属螯合柱纯化。结果：内切酶鉴定及基因序列测定证实重组表达质粒构建成功;对目的蛋白进行了原核表达,SDS-PAGE显示相对分子质量为61x10^3的特异表达条带;Western印迹证实目的蛋白为VASN,且主要以包涵体形式存在;对经尿素变性的表达产物进行了亲和层析纯化,有利于以后的变性、复性过程。结论：获得了人VASN融合蛋白,为其进一步的生物学功能研究奠定了基础。     

Isolation, expression and characterization of a novel dual serine protease inhibitor, OH-TCI, from king cobra venom

Snake venom Kunitz/BPTI members are good tools for understanding of structure-functional relationship between serine proteases and their inhibitors. A novel dual Kunitz/BPTI serine proteinase inhibitor named OH-TCI (trypsin- and chymotrypsin-dual inhibitor from Ophiophagus hannah) was isolated from king cobra venom by three chromatographic steps of gel filtration, trypsin affinity and reverse phase HPLC. OH-TCI is composed of 58 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 6339Da. Successful expression of OH-TCI was performed as the maltose-binding fusion protein in E. coli DH5alpha. Much different from Oh11-1, the purified native and recombinant OH-TCI both had strong inhibitory activities against trypsin and chymotrypsin although the sequence identity (74.1%) between them is very high. The inhibitor constants (K(i)) of recombinant OH-TCI were 3.91 x 10(-7) and 8.46 x10(-8)M for trypsin and chymotrypsin, respectively. To our knowledge, it was the first report of Kunitz/BPTI serine proteinase inhibitor from snake venom that had equivalent trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitory activities.     

Purification of green fluorescent protein using a two-intein system

A two-intein purification system was developed for the affinity purification of GFPmut3*, a mutant of green fluorescent protein. The GFPmut3* was sandwiched between two self-cleaving inteins. This approach avoided the loss of the target protein which may result from in vivo cleavage of a single intein tag. The presence of N- and C-terminal chitin-binding domains allowed the affinity purification by a single-affinity chitin column. After the fusion protein was expressed and immobilized on the affinity column, self-cleavage of the inteins was sequentially induced to release the GFPmut3*. The yield was 2.41 mg from 1 l of bacterial culture. Assays revealed that the purity was up to 98% of the total protein. The fluorescence and circular dichroism spectrum of GFPmut3* demonstrated that the purified protein retains the correctly folded structure and function.     

A pH‐induced,intein‐mediated expression and purification of recombinant human epidermal growth factor in Escherichia coli

Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) is a cellular factor that promotes cell proliferation and has been widely used for the treatment of wounds, corneal injuries, and gastric ulcers. Recombinant hEGF (rhEGF) has previously been expressed using the pTWIN1 system with pH‐induced intein and a chitin‐binding domain. The rhEGF protein can be purified by chitin affinity chromatography because of the high affinity between the chitin‐binding domain fusion‐tag and the column. However, uncontrolled cleavage presents a major problem with this method. To overcome this problem, a novel purification method has been developed for a pH‐induced intein tag rhEGF that is expressed in Escherichia coli. Following purification by denaturation of inclusion bodies, the fusion protein is renatured and simultaneously induced to self‐cleave by dialysis. Further purification of rhEGF is achieved by heat treatment and ion‐exchange chromatography. Our results show that the purity of rhEGF obtained through this method is over 98% and the quantity of purified rhEGF is 248 mg from a 1 L culture or 2,967 mg from a 12 L culture. Therefore, we conclude that we have developed an efficient purification method of rhEGF, which may be used for the purification of other heat‐resistant and acid‐resistant recombinant proteins. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:758–764, 2015     

重组刺桐胰蛋白酶抑制剂a在大肠杆菌中的表达和纯化

为了大量制备重组刺桐胰蛋白酶抑制剂a(rETIa) ,对构建的基因工程菌株E .coliBL2 1(DE3)pET2 2b mETIa进行了表达条件的优化 .用摇瓶培养 ,rETIa蛋白占菌体总蛋白 4 0 %以上 .经破碎菌体 洗涤包涵体 溶解包涵体 复性初步纯化后 ,再经二步柱层析纯化获得电泳纯的rETIa蛋白 .测定了rETIa对胰蛋白酶、胰凝乳蛋白酶、组织型纤溶酶原激活因子缺失突变体 (NTA)的抑制活性 .     

人Hepcidin融合表达载体的构建及在大肠杆菌中的表达

为了在大肠杆菌中表达生产hepcidin,根据大肠杆菌密码子偏好性,化学合成了人hepcidin的基因序列,并构建了hepcidin的融合表达载体pET -hpc。pET- hpc在大肠杆菌BL2 1 (DE3)中表达的hepcidin融合蛋白以包涵体形式存在,其N端带有 6个组氨酸。通过优化诱导表达条件,该融合蛋白表达水平显著提高,占总蛋白的 2 5 . 2 %。表达的包涵体经 1 %TritonX 1 0 0洗涤后溶于8mol L尿素,在变性条件下采用金属螯合层析进行纯化,所得融合蛋白纯度大于 95 %。     

Secretion incompetence of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor expressed in Escherichia coli.

There is increasing evidence that protein folding and protein export are competing processes in prokaryotic cells. Virtually all secretion studies reported to date, however, have employed proteins that are relatively uncharacterized in terms of their folding behavior and three-dimensional structure. In contrast, the structural and biochemical parameters governing the folding of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) and several of its mutants have been studied intensively. We therefore undertook a study of the secretion behavior in Escherichia coli of recombinant BPTI and its mutants. Wild-type BPTI and two well-characterized folding mutants (C14A, C38A)BPTI and (C30A, C51A)BPTI (missing the 14-38 and 30-51 disulfide bonds, respectively), were investigated by analyzing their expression fused to an E. coli signal sequence or to two synthetic IgG-binding domains of staphylococcal protein A. Both disulfide mutants are destabilized relative to wild-type BPTI and exhibit markedly altered folding kinetics: one (C14A, C38A) folds more slowly than wild-type BPTI and the other (C30A, C51A) unfolds more rapidly. Both mutants were observed to be exported 3-10 times more efficiently than the wild-type molecule. Moreover, the levels of unprocessed preprotein in the cytoplasm were severalfold higher for the wild-type fusion than for the fusion to the two folding mutants. Intracellular degradation of the BPTI moiety was also observed. These results are consistent with traffic of intracellular BPTI preproteins on at least three routes along the secretory pathway: (a) facile secretion of unfolded material, (b) intracellular folding leading to secretion blockage, and (c) degradation followed by export of truncated molecules. A novel feature of these findings is the implication that disulfide bonds can form in the bacterial cytoplasm and lead to secretion incompetence.     

Cloning and purification of functionally active Fas ligand interfering protein (FIP) expressed in Escherichia coli

This report presents purification and characterization of the extracellular domain of rat Fas protein, called FIP (FasL interfering protein), expressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. FIP was extracted from the inclusion bodies, solubilized with 8 M urea, purified by a single-step immobilized metal ion (Ni(2+)) affinity chromatography and refolded. SDS/PAGE and mass spectrometry analysis of the purified protein verified its purity. Fluorescence spectrum analysis showed that the refolding procedure caused structural changes which presumably might have led to oligomerization. The purified FIP has biological activities: it binds specifically soluble Fas ligand and protects human Jurkat lymphocytes against FasL-dependent apoptosis. This efficient procedure of FIP expression in E. coli and renaturation may be useful for production of therapeutically important proteins.     

Production of a polyclonal antibody against recombinant goldfish prolactin and demonstration of its usefulness in a non-competitive antigen-capture ELISA

The cDNA encoding the goldfish (Carassius auratus) prolactin was expressed in Escherichia coli using the pRSETA expression vector. The recombinant goldfish prolactin (gfPRL) produced was a fusion protein containing a hexahistidyl sequence, which facilitated its purification on a Ni²⁺ column. The fusion protein was overexpressed in the bacteria as inclusion bodies and was successfully purified under denaturing conditions by one-step affinity chromatography. Repeated immunization of rabbits against the purified recombinant gfPRL allowed the production of a high-titer polyclonal antiserum. The IgG fraction of the antiserum was isolated on an immobilized Protein A–agarose column. The antibody recognized recombinant gfPRL, but not recombinant goldfish growth hormone (gfGH) or goldfish somatolactin (gfSL) on Western analyses. The purified antibody was able to recognize gfPRL, but not gfGH or gfSL, in a non-competitive antigen-capture ELISA. The assay was applied in monitoring the purification of native PRL from goldfish pituitaries.     

BPTI and N-terminal extended analogues generated by factor Xa cleavage and cathepsin C trimming of a fusion protein expressed in Escherichia coli

A recombinant gene for BPTI (bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor) is expressed in Escherichia coli using a MBP (maltose-binding protein) fusion vector. BPTI is fused through an FX_a (blood coagulation factor X_a protease) target sequence (Ile-Glu-Gly-Arg) to the C-terminus of MBP. The MBP moiety of the hybrid protein enables purification in one step utilizing MBP's affinity to cross-linked amylose, and the FX_a target sequence allows specific cleavage of the hybrid protein. Effective FX_a cleavage is achieved by spacing the FX_a target sequence and Arg-1 of the BPTI sequence with four residues (Met-Glu-Ala-Glu). The resulting N-terminal extended BPTI is readily converted to the wild-type sequence by trimming with cathepsin C exopeptidase, for the activity of which the spacing tetrapeptide is optimized. FX_a cleavage is prohibited when the target sequence is placed next to Arg-1. In this construction, off-target cleavage at a somewhat homologous sequence (Val-Pro-Gly-Arg) results in five- or six-residue extended BPTI, indicating new details of the FX_a specificity. The yield of highly purified recombinant BPTI is 3–6 mg/liter of culture, making the MBP-BPTI expression system convenient for the production of sufficient amounts of protein for NMR studies. ¹H NMR is used to analyze the N-extended BPTI analogues.     

Continuous processing of fusion protein expressed as an Escherichia coli inclusion body

In this study we develop the components of an integrated process for the continuous extraction and purification of a histidine-tagged fusion protein expressed as an inclusion body in Escherichia coli. Lac21 was selected as a model peptide and was expressed as a fusion to ketosteroid isomerase. A purification strategy was developed on a 1-ml batch column before successful scale-up and transfer to a continuous purification system, having a bed volume of 240 ml. Preliminary experiments proved cleavage of the fusion protein. The use of chemical extraction and continuous chromatography gives a flowsheet far superior to the traditional methods for inclusion body processing.