Metal-enhanced fluorescence of single green fluorescent protein (GFP)

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) has emerged as a powerful reporter molecule for monitoring gene expression, protein localization, and protein-protein interaction. However, the detection of low concentrations of GFPs is limited by the weakness of the fluorescent signal and the low photostability. In this report, we observed the proximity of single GFPs to metallic silver nanoparticles increases its fluorescence intensity approximately 6-fold and decreases the decay time. Single protein molecules on the silvered surfaces emitted 10-fold more photons as compared to glass prior to photobleaching. The photostability of single GFP has increased to some extent. Accordingly, we observed longer duration time and suppressed blinking. The single-molecule lifetime histograms indicate the relatively heterogeneous distributions of protein mutants inside the structure.     

On-line monitoring of the denitrification process by measurement of NADH fluorescence

On-line monitoring method of the denitrification process was developed by NADH fluorescence measurements using the facultative microorganism, Ochrobactrum anthropi SY509. The NADH fluorescence signals showed a rapid drop and a rise at the initiation and termination points of the denitrification, respectively. This NADH fluorescence method could be applied successfully to the monitoring of the denitrification process in sequential batch and continuous operations while these rapid changes of fluorescence were not observed in a batch operation due to accumulation of some metabolites secreted from the microorganism.     

GFP在绿色荧光裸鼠不同组织中的表达及分析

目的研究外源绿色荧光蛋白（green fluorescent protein,简称GFP）基因在BALB/c绿色荧光裸鼠主要器官组织中的表达及其差异。方法小动物成像系统和RT-PCR方法检测GFP的组织分布以及荧光表达水平情况。结果经活体荧光影像系统观察及PCR方法检测发现GFP可以在裸鼠多个器官组织中表达,其中在胰腺、心脏、全脑、皮肤、睾丸中表达量较高。结论外源绿色荧光蛋白可以在模型动物体内成功表达且稳定遗传,其中在胰腺组织中高表达。     

超正电荷绿荧光蛋白+36GFP作为核酸载体的细胞穿透性分析

旨在通过原核表达纯化超正电荷绿色荧光蛋白+36GFP,研究其与核酸的结合作用及作为核酸载体的细胞转导功能。将pET+36GFP-HA2质粒转化到大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)菌株中,然后表达纯化+36GFP蛋白。将得到的目的蛋白在特定浓度下分别转导293细胞、HepG2细胞、A549细胞和B16细胞,流式细胞仪检测+36GFP的转导效率;+36GFP蛋白(100 nmol/L)转导A549细胞,激光共聚焦显微镜观察结果;将+36GFP蛋白与质粒DNA按不同比例孵育,凝胶阻滞实验检测+36GFP与DNA的结合能力;激光共聚焦显微镜和流式细胞仪检测+36GFP蛋白携带质粒DNA转导细胞后报告基因的表达。结果显示,+36GFP蛋白具有较高的细胞转导效率,且随浓度升高转导效率增加,呈浓度依赖性。凝胶阻滞实验显示,+36GFP能够与质粒DNA结合,阻滞DNA在凝胶中迁移,且呈现一定的浓度依赖性。+36GFP包裹质粒转导细胞后,可高效携带质粒DNA转导进入细胞,使质粒报告基因得到表达。本研究成功表达纯化了+36GFP蛋白,证实该蛋白具有较高的细胞转导效率,可将外源核酸携带入细胞使外源基因得到表达。     

腺病毒载体介导的重组蛋白sTNFRII-gAD快速表达和制备

利用腺病毒载体高效感染哺乳动物细胞及表达外源基因的特性,建立一种快速高效表达及制备重组蛋白的方法,并用该方法获得sTNFRII-gAD (可溶性肿瘤坏死因子受体II-脂联素球部融合蛋白) 蛋白纯品。首先用携带EGFP基因的腺病毒载体rAd5-EGFP以不同的腺病毒用量 (MOI) (0~1 000) 感染BHK21c022细胞,观察比较其转导效率和细胞毒性。用AdMax腺病毒载体系统制备携带融合基因sTNFRII-gAD的重组复制缺陷型5型腺病毒rAd5-sTNFRII-gAD。用rAd5-sTNFRII-gAD以不同的MOI (0~1 000) 感染BHK21c022细胞,收取上清进行Western blotting分析,比较上清中sTNFRII-gAD蛋白的表达量。在此基础上,用rAd5-sTNFRII-gAD以MOI 100感染大量培养的BHK21c022细胞,在无血清培养条件下反复多次收取培养上清,经过硫酸铵浓缩、分子筛柱层析、透析等步骤浓缩和纯化sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白,并体外测定该融合蛋白拮抗TNFa的活性。结果获得了携带sTNFRII-gAD融合基因的重组腺病毒rAd5-sTNFRII-gAD;用rAd5-EGFP感染BHK21c022细胞结果表明,随着腺病毒用量的增高,表达EGFP蛋白的BHK21c022细胞数量和亮度明显增加;MOI在0~100之间被感染的BHK21c022细胞未表现出明显的细胞毒性,MOI为1 000时可观察到细胞变圆和少量死亡现象。Western blotting分析结果表明,随着腺病毒用量的增高,培养上清中sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白表达量明显增加,以MOI为1 000时最高。在此基础上,我们用MOI为100的rAd5-sTNFRII-gAD感染5个转瓶培养的BHK21c022细胞以制备sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白。每个转瓶加无血清培养液100 mL,每48 h收获上清1次并换液,反复6次收取培养上清共约3 L,经过纯化获得了约11 mg的sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白。体外活性测定实验表明,获得的sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白能有效拮抗TNFα对L929细胞的杀伤作用。腺病毒载体/BHK21细胞表达系统是一个简便、高效、通用的表达系统,利用该系统成功制备了有生物学活性的sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白。该表达系统的特点是生产规模易于放大,适应无血清培养,可以反复多次收获目标蛋白。     

On-line monitoring of IPTG induction for recombinant protein production using an automatic pH control signal

The response of IPTG induction was investigated through the monitoring of the alkali consumption rate and buffer capacity during the cultivation of recombinantE. coli BL21(DE3) harboring the plasmid pRSET-LacZ under the control oflac promoter. The rate of alkali consumption increased along with cell growth, but declined suddenly after approximately 0.2 h of IPTG induction. The buffer capacity also declined after 0.9 h of IPTG induction. The profile of buffer capacity seems to correlate with the level of acetate production. The IPTG response was monitored only when introduced into the mid-exponential phase of bacterial cell growth. The minimum concentration of IPTG for induction, which was found out to be 0.1 mM, can also be monitored on-line andin-situ. Therefore, the on-line monitoring of alkali consumption rate and buffer capacity can be an indicator of the metabolic shift initiated by IPTG supplement, as well as for the physiological state of cell growth.     

丛枝菌根真菌状巨孢囊霉孢子伴生细菌的绿色荧光蛋白标记及定殖分析

摘要：【目的】分析丛枝菌根（Arbuscualr Mycorrhizal, AM）真菌珠状巨孢囊霉(Gigaspora margarita) MAFF 520054孢子伴生细菌的定殖情况,明确其生态位点,以及为进一步分析其种群生态或功能提供信息。【方法】以载体pNF8（gfp-mut1）对6株珠状巨孢囊霉MAFF 520054 孢子伴生细菌进行绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）标记,并通过荧光显微镜和平板计数的方法研究标记菌株对真菌宿主的定殖位点和不同条件下的定殖数量动态。【结果】对粘状芽孢杆菌（Peanibacillus spp.）M060106-1和M061122-6、芽孢杆菌（Bacillus sp.）M061122-10和短小芽孢杆菌（Brevibacillus sp.）M061122-12成功进行了GFP标记,其均具有较好的质粒稳定性,且与出发株的基本性状一致,适合短期内进行环境定殖研究。所有菌株均能定殖珠状巨孢囊霉MAFF 520054孢子壁,而M061122-6和M061122-12还能够定殖其菌丝;不同pH值条件下,各菌株定殖珠状巨孢囊霉MAFF 520054孢子的数量动态均为先上升后下降,pH值对各菌株的定殖数量有不同的影响;各GFP菌株对低活力的珠状巨孢囊霉孢子定殖数量高于高活力的孢子,且对高活力孢子的定殖数量动态不同。【结论】分离的珠状巨孢囊霉孢子伴生细菌能够重新定殖其孢子,菌株的定殖能力受其特性及外界因子的影响,为进一步分析AM真菌伴生细菌的种群生态及功能提供了信息。     

Optimization of fed-batch production of the model recombinant protein GFP in Lactococcus lactis

Optimization of recombinant protein production using lactic acid bacteria (LAB) remains an important obstacle on the road to realizing LAB as oral vaccine delivery vehicles. Despite this, there have been few published investigations to explore the higher limits of LAB recombinant protein expression in fed-batch fermentations. In this study, results from response surface experiments suggested an optimal set of conditions for expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP), a model recombinant protein, in bench-scale, fed-batch Lactococcus lactis IL1403 fermentations. The 48 4-L fed-batch fermentations in this set of experiments, along with preliminary studies, investigated the effects of pH, temperature, hemin concentration, concentration of the nisin inducer per cell, and time of induction. Cell densities in this data set ranged from 2.9 to 7.4 g/L and maximum GFP expression per cell ranged from 0.1 to 4.4 relative fluorescence units (RFU)/g. The optimal 4-L, fed-batch fermentation process found here yields growth and protein expression values that dramatically improve upon results from traditional test tube and flask processes. Relative to the traditional process, the experimental optimum conditions yield 4.9 times the cell density, 1.6 times the protein per cell mass, and 8 times the total protein concentration. Unexpectedly, experiments also revealed that the compound hemin, known previously to improve growth and survival of Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis), negatively impacted recombinant protein production when added in concentrations from 5 to 20 microg/mL with this strain. The improvement in protein expression over traditional processes demonstrated here is an important step toward commercial development of LAB for oral delivery of recombinant vaccines and therapeutic proteins.     

Linear correlation between average fluorescence intensity of green fluorescent protein and the multiplicity of infection of recombinant adenovirus

Background

Adenoviral vector is an efficient tool for gene transfer. Protein expression is regulated by a number of factors, but the regulation by gene copy number remains to be investigated further.

Results

Assessed by flow cytometry, we demonstrated a significant linear correlation between average fluorescence intensity of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and a wide range of multiplicity of infection (MOI), spanning from 0.01 to 200. Average GFP intensity was calculated by mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) × percentage of infection (POI) (MFI × POI) and the correlation was observed in cells transduced with GFP-expressing adenoviral vector driven either by a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter for 3 to 6 h or by a human phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) promoter for 18 to 24 h. Factors impacting this linear correlation include MOI of viral vector, strength of promoter driving GFP expression, cell type transduced and incubation time after gene transfer. We also found that weak GFP signals could be interfered by background signals, whereas strong GFP signals could overshot the detection limitation of the flow cytometer and resulted in a deviation from linearity which was prevented by adjusting the setting in flow cytometer. Moreover, we compared promoter strength as measured by MFI × POI and found that the relative activity of CMV promoter to PGK promoter was 20 to 47 folds in A549 cells and 32 to > 100 folds in H1299 cells.

Conclusions

The linear correlation between MFI × POI and a wide range of adenoviral MOI provides an efficient method to investigate factors regulating protein expression and to estimate virus titers.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12929-015-0137-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Serum-free suspension cultivation of PER.C6(R) cells and recombinant adenovirus production under different pH conditions

PER.C6(R) cell growth, metabolism, and adenovirus production were studied in head-to-head comparisons in stirred bioreactors under different pH conditions. Cell growth rate was found to be similar in the pH range of 7.1-7.6, while a long lag phase and a slower growth rate were observed at pH 6.8. The specific consumption rates of glucose and glutamine decreased rapidly over time during batch cell growth, as did the specific lactate and ammonium production rates. Cell metabolism in both infected and uninfected cultures was very sensitive to culture pH, resulting in dramatic differences in glucose/glutamine consumption and lactate/ammonium production under different pH conditions. It appeared that glucose metabolism was suppressed at low pH but the efficiency of energy production from glucose was enhanced. Adenovirus infection resulted in profound changes in cell growth and metabolism. Cell growth was largely arrested under all pH conditions, while glucose consumption and lactate production were elevated post virus infection. Virus infection induced a reduction in glutamine consumption at low pH but an increase at high pH. The optimal pH for adenovirus production was found to be 7.3 under the experimental conditions used in the study. Deviations from this optimum resulted in significant reductions of virus productivity. The results indicate that culture pH is a very critical process parameter in PER.C6(R) cell culture and adenovirus production.     

Production of recombinant h-AT III with mammalian cell cultures using capillary electrophoresis for product monitoring

The importance of mammalian cell cultures for biotechnological production processes is steadily increasing, despite the high demands of these organisms on their culture conditions. Efforts towards a more efficient bioprocess generally concentrate on maximizing the culture's life time, the cell number, and the product concentration. Here recombinant BHK 21 c13 cells are used to produce rh-AT III, an anticoagulant of high therapeutic value. The influence of the process mode (batch, repeated batch, continuous perfusion) and the process temperature (30°C vs. 37°C) on the above mentioned parameters is investigated. It is possible to increase the length of the culture from 140 h (batch) to more than 500 h (continuous perfusion culture), while concomitantly increasing the cell density from 0.72 10⁶/ml (batch) to 2.27 10⁶/ml (repeated batch) and 2.87 10⁶/ml (continuous perfusion culture). The accumulation of toxic metabolites, such as lactate, can be curtailed by reducing the bioreactor temperature from 37°C to 30°C during the later part of the exponential growth phase. Fast and reliable product monitoring became essential during process optimization. Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) in uncoated fused silica capillaries was studied for that purpose and compared to the standard ELISA. Under optimized conditions an AT III quantification could be done within 2 min with CZE. The detection limit was 5 g/ml. A relative standard deviation of less than 0.9% was calculated. The detection limit could be lowered by one order of magnitude by using a two dimensional system, where an liquid chromatographic (LC) system is coupled to the CZE. Concomitantly the resolution is improved. The two-dimensional analysis required 5 min. Membrane adsorbers (MA) were used as stationary phase in the LC-system, to allow the application of high flow rates (5–10 ml/min). The correlation between the LC-CZE analysis and the standard AT III-ELISA was excellent, with r²: 0.965. Using the assay for at line product monitoring, it is shown, that the process temperature is of no consequence for the productivity whereas the process mode strongly influences this parameter.     

FACS-optimized mutants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP)

We have constructed a library in Escherichia coli of mutant gfp genes (encoding green fluorescent protein, GFP) expressed from a tightly regulated inducible promoter. We introduced random amino acid (aa) substitutions in the twenty aa flanking the chromophore Ser-Tyr-Gly sequence at aa 65–67. We then used fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to select variants of GFP that fluoresce between 20-and 35-fold more intensely than wild type (wt), when excited at 488 nm. Sequence analysis reveals three classes of aa substitutions in GFP. All three classes of mutant proteins have highly shifted excitation maxima. In addition, when produced in E. coli, the folding of the mutant proteins is more efficient than folding of wt GFP. These two properties contribute to a greatly increased (100-fold) fluorescence intensity, making the mutants useful for a number of applications.     

Genetic transformation of Arabidopsis lyrata: specific expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in pistil tissues

Arabidopsis thaliana has become widely used as a model system for plant biology. Recent phylogenetic studies led to a severe revision of the systematic relationships across species of the Brassicaceae family. This provided an opportunity to examine close relatives of A. thaliana and to study the function and molecular evolution of genes that play roles in ecology and speciation. In this context, developing tools to genetically transform “non-model plants” appears as a major issue to ascertain gene function. Here, we report a method to transform A. lyrata, one of the closest relatives of A. thaliana.     

Rapid monitoring of recombinant antibody production by mammalian cell cultures using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics

Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate statistical analyses was investigated as a physicochemical tool for monitoring secreted recombinant antibody production in cultures of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and murine myeloma non‐secreting 0 (NS0) cell lines. Medium samples were taken during culture of CHO and NS0 cells lines, which included both antibody‐producing and non‐producing cell lines, and analyzed by FT‐IR spectroscopy. Principal components analysis (PCA) alone, and combined with discriminant function analysis (PC‐DFA), were applied to normalized FT‐IR spectroscopy datasets and showed a linear trend with respect to recombinant protein production. Loadings plots of the most significant spectral components showed a decrease in the C–O stretch from polysaccharides and an increase in the amide I band during culture, respectively, indicating a decrease in sugar concentration and an increase in protein concentration in the medium. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) analysis was used to predict antibody titers, and these regression models were able to predict antibody titers accurately with low error when compared to ELISA data. PLSR was also able to predict glucose and lactate amounts in the medium samples accurately. This work demonstrates that FT‐IR spectroscopy has great potential as a tool for monitoring cell cultures for recombinant protein production and offers a starting point for the application of spectroscopic techniques for the on‐line measurement of antibody production in industrial scale bioreactors. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010; 106: 432–442. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Rapid production of a chimeric antibody-antigen fusion protein based on 2A-peptide cleavage and green fluorescent protein expression in CHO cells

To enable large-scale antibody production, the creation of a stable, high producer cell line is essential. This process often takes longer than 6 months using standard limited dilution techniques and is very labor intensive. The use of a tri-cistronic vector expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) and both antibody chains, separated by a GT2A peptide sequence, allows expression of all proteins under a single promotor in equimolar ratios. By combining the advantages of 2A peptide cleavage and single cell sorting, a chimeric antibody-antigen fusion protein that contained the variable domains of mouse IgG with a porcine IgA constant domain fused to the FedF antigen could be produced in CHO-K1 cells. After transfection, a strong correlation was found between antibody production and GFP expression (r = 0.69) using image analysis of formed monolayer patches. This enables the rapid selection of GFP-positive clones using automated image analysis for the selection of high producer clones. This vector design allowed the rapid selection of high producer clones within a time-frame of 4 weeks after transfection. The highest producing clone had a specific antibody productivity of 2.32 pg/cell/day. Concentrations of 34 mg/L were obtained using shake-flask batch culture. The produced recombinant antibody showed stable expression, binding and minimal degradation. In the future, this antibody will be assessed for its effectiveness as an oral vaccine antigen.     

Cell size as a tool to predict the production of recombinant protein by the insect-cell baculovirus expression system

The increase of Sf9 cell diameter after infection with a recombinant baculovirus encoding VP8 protein of rotavirus can be used to predict culture productivity. A direct proportional correlation between the increase in cell size and VP8 concentration was obtained when manipulating selected medium components. Only yeast extract increased (38%) VP8 concentration, while fetal bovine serum increased (55%) the maximum cell concentration. An inexpensive and simplified culture media can thus be designed without detriment to protein yields.     

Appraisal of green fluorescent protein as a model substrate for seryl-histidine dipeptide cleaving agent

We have investigated the action of seryl-histidine dipeptide (SH)on Green Fluorescent Protein (GFPxm) by SDS-PAGE and fluorescence techniques. It was found that 1 mmol SH showed a 75 units protease K (PK)-like cleavage effect at 50 °C, pH 6.5–7.5. Compared with the results of SH cleavage on BSA, SDS-PAGE experiments showed no obvious fragments resulting from SH cleavage of GFPxm. SH quenched the GFPxm fluorescence greatly prior to cleavage. When the SH concentration reached 150 mM, the fluorescence quenching phenomena stopped. Compared with seryl-histidine dipeptide, the individual amino acids Ser and His, and these two amino acids mixed together, showed no effects on the spectral characteristics of GFPxm nor cleavage of GFPxm. Further study of the SH protein cleavage mechanism might provide insight for protease mechanisms and biomacromolecule evolution.     

Appraisal of green fluorescent protein as a model substrate for seryl-histidine dipeptide cleaving agent

Summary We have investigated the action of seryl-histidine dipeptide (SH) on Green Fluorescent Protein (GFPxm) by SDS-PAGE and fluorescence techniques. It was found that 1 mmol SH showed a 75 units protease K (PK)-like cleavage effect at 50°C, pH 6.5–7.5. Compared with the results of SH cleavage on BSA, SDS-PAGE experiments showed no obvious fragments resulting from SH cleavage of GFPxm. SH quenched the GFPxm fluorescence greatly prior to cleavage. When the SH concentration reached 150 mM, the fluorescence quenching phenomena stopped. Compared cleavage. When the SH concentration reached 150 mM, the fluorescence quenching phenomena stopped. Compared with seryl-histidine dipeptide, the individual amino acids Ser and His, and these two amino acids mixed together, showed no effects on the spectral characteristics of GFPxm nor cleavage of GFPxm. Further study of the SH protein cleavage mechanism might provide insight for protease mechanisms and biomacromolecule evolution.