Gene synthesis, bacterial expression and purification of the Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase.

The Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase (Tlc) is the first member of a new family of ATP/ADP exchangers that includes both prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins. We optimized the codon usage for expression of tlc in Escherichia coli by means of gene synthesis, expressed the synthetic gene in E. coli, and purified a modified Tlc that contained a C-terminal tag of 10 consecutive histidine residues by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Although codon usage in R. prowazekii is very different from E. coli, the optimization of the codon usage by itself was insufficient to improve expression. However, the change of the cloning vector from pET11a to pT7-5 led to a 3-10-fold increase in the specific ATP transport rate by cells expressing the synthetic construct. The authenticity of the purified protein was confirmed by N-terminal amino acid sequencing and a matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.     

Glycine to glutamic acid misincorporation observed in a recombinant protein expressed by Escherichia coli cells

A novel amino acid misincorporation, in which the intended glycine (Gly) residues were replaced by a glutamic acid (Glu), was observed in a recombinant protein expressed by Escherichia coli. The misincorporation was identified by peptide mapping and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric analysis on proteolyzed peptides of the protein and verified using the corresponding synthetic peptides containing the misincorporated residues. Analysis of the distribution of the misincorporated residues and their codon usage shows strong correlation between this misincorporation and the use of rarely used codon within the E. coli expression system. Results in this study suggest that the usage of the rare codon GGA has resulted in a Glu for Gly misincorporation.     

同义密码子的反常蛋白质二级结构偏好性

统计分析了 119种人蛋白质和 92种大肠杆菌蛋白质的mRNA序列和蛋白质二级结构的关系 .从二肽频数出发 ,研究了同义密码子使用对蛋白质二级结构的影响 ,证明其影响在 10 %到 2 0 %的量级 .对于人和大肠杆菌 ,在 90 %置信水平上 ,4 0 0对二肽中分别有 79对和 6 0对 ,在 95 %置信水平上 ,分别有 4 5对和 36对二肽的相应密码子二联体具有不同于氨基酸的反常二级结构偏好性 ,并且这种反常不能归因于随机涨落     

Signal peptide hydrophobicity is critical for early stages in protein export by Bacillus subtilis

Signal peptides that direct protein export in Bacillus subtilis are overall more hydrophobic than signal peptides in Escherichia coli. To study the importance of signal peptide hydrophobicity for protein export in both organisms, the alpha-amylase AmyQ was provided with leucine-rich (high hydrophobicity) or alanine-rich (low hydrophobicity) signal peptides. AmyQ export was most efficiently directed by the authentic signal peptide, both in E. coli and B. subtilis. The leucine-rich signal peptide directed AmyQ export less efficiently in both organisms, as judged from pulse-chase labelling experiments. Remarkably, the alanine-rich signal peptide was functional in protein translocation only in E. coli. Cross-linking of in vitro synthesized ribosome nascent chain complexes (RNCs) to cytoplasmic proteins showed that signal peptide hydrophobicity is a critical determinant for signal peptide binding to the Ffh component of the signal recognition particle (SRP) or to trigger factor, not only in E. coli, but also in B. subtilis. The results show that B. subtilis SRP can discriminate between signal peptides with relatively high hydrophobicities. Interestingly, the B. subtilis protein export machinery seems to be poorly adapted to handle alanine-rich signal peptides with a low hydrophobicity. Thus, signal peptide hydrophobicity appears to be more critical for the efficiency of early stages in protein export in B. subtilis than in E. coli.     

异戊二烯合成酶(IspS)在大肠杆菌中的表达及其产异戊二烯的研究

将来源于银白杨的异戊二烯合成酶基因按照大肠杆菌密码子偏爱性进行优化,克隆到表达载体pACYCDu-et-1上,在大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中异源表达,采用镍柱亲和层析纯化重组蛋白并测定其异戊二烯合成酶活性,通过摇瓶发酵实验对重组菌产异戊二烯进行进一步研究。结果显示:银白杨异戊二烯合成酶在大肠杆菌中能够高效表达,经过镍柱纯化后,电泳检测到特异性表达条带;该重组异戊二烯合成酶能够催化异戊二烯的合成,重组菌的异戊二烯产量可达到60μg/L。     

Quantifying codon usage in signal peptides: Gene expression and amino acid usage explain apparent selection for inefficient codons

The Sec secretion pathway is found across all domains of life. A critical feature of Sec secreted proteins is the signal peptide, a short peptide with distinct physicochemical properties located at the N-terminus of the protein. Previous work indicates signal peptides are biased towards translationally inefficient codons, which is hypothesized to be an adaptation driven by selection to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the protein secretion mechanisms. We investigate codon usage in the signal peptides of E. coli using the Codon Adaptation Index (CAI), the tRNA Adaptation Index (tAI), and the ribosomal overhead cost formulation of the stochastic evolutionary model of protein production rates (ROC-SEMPPR). Comparisons between signal peptides and 5′-end of cytoplasmic proteins using CAI and tAI are consistent with a preference for inefficient codons in signal peptides. Simulations reveal these differences are due to amino acid usage and gene expression – we find these differences disappear when accounting for both factors. In contrast, ROC-SEMPPR, a mechanistic population genetics model capable of separating the effects of selection and mutation bias, shows codon usage bias (CUB) of the signal peptides is indistinguishable from the 5′-ends of cytoplasmic proteins. Additionally, we find CUB at the 5′-ends is weaker than later segments of the gene. Results illustrate the value in using models grounded in population genetics to interpret genetic data. We show failure to account for mutation bias and the effects of gene expression on the efficacy of selection against translation inefficiency can lead to a misinterpretation of codon usage patterns.     

Effect of codon-optimized E. coli signal peptides on recombinant Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenic amylase periplasmic localization,yield and activity

Recombinant proteins can be targeted to the Escherichia coli periplasm by fusing them to signal peptides. The popular pET vectors facilitate fusion of target proteins to the PelB signal. A systematic comparison of the PelB signal with native E. coli signal peptides for recombinant protein expression and periplasmic localization is not reported. We chose the Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenic amylase (MA), an industrial enzyme widely used in the baking and brewing industry, as a model protein and analyzed the competence of seven, codon-optimized, E. coli signal sequences to translocate MA to the E. coli periplasm compared to PelB. MA fusions to three of the signals facilitated enhanced periplasmic localization of MA compared to the PelB fusion. Interestingly, these three fusions showed greatly improved MA yields and between 18- and 50-fold improved amylase activities compared to the PelB fusion. Previously, non-optimal codon usage in native E. coli signal peptide sequences has been reported to be important for protein stability and activity. Our results suggest that E. coli signal peptides with optimal codon usage could also be beneficial for heterologous protein secretion to the periplasm. Moreover, such fusions could even enhance activity rather than diminish it. This effect, to our knowledge has not been previously documented. In addition, the seven vector platform reported here could also be used as a screen to identify the best signal peptide partner for other recombinant targets of interest.     

Defective Escherichia coli signal peptides function in yeast

To investigate structural characteristics important for eukaryotic signal peptide function in vivo, a hybrid gene with interchangeable signal peptides was cloned into yeast. The hybrid gene encoded nine residues from the amino terminus of the major Escherichia coli lipoprotein, attached to the amino terminus of the entire mature E. coli beta-lactamase sequence. To this sequence were attached sequences encoding the nonmutant E. coli lipoprotein signal peptide, or lipoprotein signal peptide mutants lacking an amino-terminal cationic charge, with shortened hydrophobic core, with altered potential helicity, or with an altered signal-peptide cleavage site. These signal-peptide mutants exhibited altered processing and secretion in E. coli. Using the GAL10 promoter, production of all hybrid proteins was induced to constitute 4-5% of the total yeast protein. Hybrid proteins with mutant signal peptides that show altered processing and secretion in E. coli, were processed and translocated to a similar degree as the non-mutant hybrid protein in yeast (approximately 36% of the total hybrid protein). Both non-mutant and mutant signal peptides appeared to be removed at the same unique site between cysteine 21 and serine 22, one residue from the E. coli signal peptidase II processing site. The mature lipo-beta-lactamase was translocated across the cytoplasmic membrane into the yeast periplasm. Thus the protein secretion apparatus in yeast recognizes the lipoprotein signal sequence in vivo but displays a specificity towards altered signal sequences which differs from that of E. coli.     

Codon usage and gene expression.

The hypothesis that codon usage regulates gene expression at the level of translation is tested. Codon usage of Escherichia coli and phage lambda is compared by correspondence analysis, and the basis of this hypothesis is examined by connecting codon and tRNA distributions to polypeptide elongation kinetics. Both approaches indicate that if codon usage was random tRNA limitation would only affect the rarest tRNA species. General discrimination against their cognate codons indicates that polypeptide elongation rates are maintained constant. Thus, differences in expression of E. coli genes are not a consequence of their variable codon usage. The preference of codons recognized by the most abundant tRNAs in E. coli genes encoding abundant proteins is explained by a constraint on the cost of proof-reading.     

Codon usage and intragenic position

Data on codon usage bias in E. coli are re-examined with respect to intragenic position. The bias is less extreme near the beginning than in the rest of the gene, particularly in highly expressed genes. This is contrary to the previous finding that there is a linear decline in codon usage bias with position along weakly expressed genes but little or no change in bias along highly expressed genes. The effect is not confined to genes coding for proteins with leader peptides, as suggested earlier (Burns and Beacham, 1985). There is some evidence of a similar but smaller effect in yeast.     

Primary structure of the tolC gene that codes for an outer membrane protein of Escherichia coli K12.

We present the nucleotide sequence of the tolC gene of Escherichia coli K12, and the amino acid sequence of the TolC protein (an outer membrane protein) as deduced from it. The mature TolC protein comprises 467 amino acid residues, and, as previously reported (1), a signal sequence of 22 amino acid residues is attached to the N-terminus. The C-terminus of the gene is followed by a stem-loop structure (8 base pair stem, 4 base loop) which may be a rho-independent termination signal. The codon usage of the gene is nonrandom; the major isoaccepting species of tRNA are preferentially utilised, or, among synonomous codons recognized by the same tRNA, those codons are used which can interact better with the anticodon (2,3). In contrast to the codon usage for other outer membrane proteins of E. coli (4) the rare arginine codons AGA and AGG are used once and twice respectively.     

Regularities of the nucleotide sequence at the 5'-end of the codon in Escherichia coli genes

The frequencies of occurrence of nucleotides at the 5' side of codons have been determined in highly and weakly expressed genes from E. coli. Significant constraints on the nucleotide 5' to some codons were found in highly expressed genes. Certain rules of synonymous codon usage depending on the amino acid 3' of the codon were established. E. g., codon possessing quanosine in the third position (NNG) are preferred over NNA if the next amino acid is lysine (P less than 10(-5)). On the other hand, rules of synonymous codon usage in relation to 5' flanking nucleotide were found. For example, when coding for aspartic acid, GAC codon is preferred over GAU (P less than 0.001) if uridine is 5' to codon and on the contrary GAU is favoured (P less than 0.0001) if quanosine is at the 5' side of aspartic acid codon. These rules can be used in the chemical synthesis of genes designed for expression in E. coli.     

The reaction specificities of the thylakoidal processing peptidase and Escherichia coli leader peptidase are identical.

Proteins which are transported across the bacterial plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum and thylakoid membrane are usually synthesized as larger precursors containing amino-terminal targeting signals. Removal of the signals is carried out by specific, membrane-bound processing peptidases. In this report we show that the reaction specificities of these three peptidases are essentially identical. Precursors of two higher plant thylakoid lumen proteins are efficiently processed by purified Escherichia coli leader peptidase. Processing of one precursor, that of the 23 kd photosystem II protein, by both the thylakoidal and E. coli enzymes generates the correct mature amino terminus. Similarly, leader (signal) peptides of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic origin are cleaved by partially purified thylakoidal processing peptidase. No evidence of incorrect processing was obtained. Both leader peptidase and thylakoidal peptidase are inhibited by a synthetic leader peptide.     

Horizontal gene transfer in glycosyl hydrolases inferred from codon usage in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

Glycosyl hydrolase (GH) genes from Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis were used to search for cases of horizontal gene transfer. Such an event was inferred by G + C content, codon usage analysis, and a phylogenetic congruency test. The codon usage analysis used is a procedure based on a distance derived from a Pearson linear correlation coefficient determined from a pairwise codon usage comparison. The distances are then used to generate a distance-based tree with which we can define clusters and rapidly compare codon usage. Three genes (yagH from E. coli and xynA and xynB from B. subtilis) were determined to have arrived by horizontal gene transfer and were located in E. coli CP4-6 prophage, and B. subtilis prophages 6 and 5, respectively. In this study, we demonstrate that with codon usage analysis, the proposed horizontally transferred genes can be distinguished from highly expressed genes.     

High-level synthesis of Johnson grass mosaic virus coat protein in Escherichia coli and its auto-assembly to form virus-like particles

The coat protein (CP) of Johnson grass mosaic virus (JGMV) auto-assembles to form virus-like particles (VLPs) and hence could be useful for presenting small peptides to the immune system. We are therefore attempting to synthesize JGMV CP in large amounts in Escherichia coli. The JGMV CP-encoding DNA, cloned under the bacteriophage T7 promoter, showed only low levels of CP synthesis in E. coli. The predicted secondary structure of the CP mRNA showed that its translational initiation codon was part of a stable hairpin-loop structure. The initiation codon could be relieved of the hairpin-loop structure by substitution of three neighboring nucleotides. This resulted in a single amino acid change at the N-terminus of the protein. The modified RNA translated very efficiently, resulting in at least 16-fold higher CP accumulation in E. coli. The N-terminal amino acid substitution did not affect CP folding, as it auto-assembled in E. coli to form VLPs.     

Acinetobacter calcoaceticus encoded mutarotase: nucleotide sequence analysis of the gene and characterization of its secretion in Escherichia coli.

The nucleotide sequence of the mutarotase gene from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus has been determined. It reveals an open reading frame of 381 amino acids. The codon usage of A. calcoaceticus for this gene is similar to E. coli except for the amino acids Leu, Ala, Glu, and Arg where major differences exist. This did not interfere drastically with high level expression in E. coli. The regulatory sequences for the initiation of translation are similar to the ones described for E. coli. The N-terminal 20 amino acids, which are not found in the mature enzyme, show homology to signal sequences of exported proteins. In A. calcoaceticus and E. coli mutarotase is specifically secreted into the periplasmic space. Processing of the signal sequence occurs at identical sites in both organisms. The mature mutarotase consists of 361 amino acids and has a calculated molecular weight of 38457 Da. Expression of mutarotase at a high level in a recombinant E. coli destabilizes the outer membrane. This results in coordinated leakage of mutarotase and beta-lactamase into the culture broth.     

Structural features that underlie the use of bacterial Met-tRNAfMet primarily as an elongator in eukaryotic protein synthesis

Met-tRNAfMet from Escherichia coli is utilized efficiently as an elongator tRNA during protein synthesis in the rabbit reticulocyte lysate since it rapidly incorporates its methionyl residue into the same tryptic peptides of rabbit globin as the endogenous Met-tRNAmMet. Therefore, it must lack the structural characteristics that prevent the eukaryotic initiator tRNA from entering elongation. In contrast, E. coli Met-tRNAfMet appears to initiate very poorly since, unlike reticulocyte Met-tRNAiMet, it forms no detectable 43 S preinitiation complexes, and only a very small fraction of the methionine it contributes to polyribosomal peptidyl-tRNA is found at the N terminus. The bacterial fMet-tRNAfMet, which cannot elongate, is utilized for polypeptide chain initiation at a much lower level than the formylated Met-tRNAiMet from eukaryotes. The ability of E. coli Met-tRNAfMet to be used as an elongator and fMet-tRNAfMet as an initiator in the reticulocyte lysate may be considerably underestimated because of the rapid enzymatic hydrolysis of these initiator tRNAs in the lysate. The enzyme hydrolyzes fMet-tRNAfMet and Met-tRNAfMet from E. coli in a strictly Mg2+-dependent manner but not the corresponding species from yeast or rabbit reticulocytes. It also hydrolyzes yeast N-acetyl-Phe-tRNAPhe and reticulocyte peptidyl-tRNA, showing that this enzyme--like the eukaryotic protein synthetic machinery--does not readily distinguish the bacterial tRNAfMet from eukaryotic elongator tRNA.     

Analysis of synonymous codon usage in Shigella flexneri 2a strain 301 and other Shigella and Escherichia coli strains

In this study, we analysed synonymous codon usage in Shigella flexneri 2a strain 301 (Sf301) and performed a comparative analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in Sf301 and other strains of Shigella and Escherichia coli. Although there was a significant variety in codon usage bias among different Sf301 genes, there was a slight but observable codon usage bias that could primarily be attributable to mutational pressure and translational selection. In addition, the relative abundance of dinucleotides in Sf301 was observed to be independent of the overall base composition but was still caused by differential mutational pressure; this also shaped codon usage. By comparing the relative synonymous codon usage values across different Shigella and E. coli strains, we suggested that the synonymous codon usage pattern in the Shigella genomes was strain specific. This study represents a comprehensive analysis of Shigella codon usage patterns and provides a basic understanding of the mechanisms underlying codon usage bias.     

棘胸蛙抗菌肽Spinosan-C的串联表达与活性检测

为克服抗菌肽易被蛋白酶降解及对宿主大肠杆菌的杀伤作用,并进一步提高大肠杆菌系统的表达能力,以棘胸蛙Paa spinosa抗菌肽Spinosan-C为研究对象,按照大肠杆菌密码子利用频率进行密码子优化,设计合成8拷贝的串联8×Spinosan-C基因,将合成的串联基因克隆到大肠杆菌表达载体p ET-28a,利用大肠杆菌感受态细胞Rosetta进行原核表达,获得高效表达的串联8×Spinosan-C重组蛋白,用甲酸专一性切割得到抗菌肽Spinosan-C单体。体外抑菌试验表明,切割后的抗菌肽Spinosan-C单体对测试菌生长具有抑制作用,为蛙类抗菌肽的规模化制备提供了参考。