Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of three fragments of diphtheria toxin truncated within fragment B.

We have constructed three different truncated versions of diphtheria toxin (a 535-amino-acid polypeptide) which correspond to the N-terminal 290, 377, and 485 amino acids of the toxin. These lengths include one, three, and all four of the putative membrane-spanning sequences of the toxin which are thought to play a role in the translocation of fragment A into cells. Each of these three genes has been modified at its 3' end to code for a C-terminal cysteine (to allow for disulfide linkage of a targeting ligand) or a gene fusion with alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. We have also substituted the native diphtheria tox promoter (ptox) with the lambda pR promoter in an effort to overexpress these proteins. The truncated genes are expressed in Escherichia coli from both the tox promoter in a constitutive fashion and from the pR promoter by using the heat-inducible cI857 repressor. The clones produce proteins which react with anti-diphtheria toxin serum, which migrate at the anticipated Mr on Western blots, and which have ADP-ribosyltransferase activity. Constitutive synthesis from ptox leads to severe proteolytic degradation even in a protease-deficient strain. High-level expression from the pR promoter in the same lon htpR strain allows the full-length polypeptides to accumulate but also stops the growth of the cells. It appears that removal of as few as 50 amino acids from the C-terminus of diphtheria toxin alters its conformation, making it a target for proteases and causing overexpression lethality in the host cells.     

Optimizing the expression in E. coli of a synthetic gene encoding somatomedin-C (IGF-I).

Double-stranded DNA encoding the human hormone somatomedin-C (SMC) has been synthesized. This synthetic gene has been inserted into a plasmid bearing the strong leftward promoter (PL) of bacteriophage lambda and expressed in E. coli. Codons for the N-terminal region of SMC which maximized the hormone's synthesis were chosen in an SMC-lac z fusion assay. The amounts of SMC accumulated in E. coli were influenced by mutations at two chromosomal loci, lon and htpR.     

Construction of derivatives of the diphtheria toxin gene and their expression in Escherichia coli cells

A fragment of diphtheria toxin (tox) gene from beta 45 phage DNA was cloned on pUC19 plasmid in E. coli cells. The fragment is coding for toxA fragment of the toxin and contains the control region of the tox gene. The tox gene promoter is active in E. coli. The toxA protein is found mainly in periplasm of E. coli cells. The protein is enzymatically active in ADP-ribosilation of elongation factor 2 from eucaryotic cells. An in frame toxA-lacZ' fusion was constructed on pUC8 plasmid. The hybrid protein expresses both toxA and lacZ' activities. Two or seven base pairs were deleted from the central part of toxA gene by means of S1 nuclease digestion. Translation of hybrid toxA-lacZ' mRNA should be terminated downward the delections due to the frameshifts caused by them. Nevertheless, a functionally active alpha-peptide of beta-galactosidase is expressed by both the deletion fusions. The existence of another translational start site functioning in E. coli and located inside 3'-end region of toxA mRNA is suggested.     

白喉毒素无毒突变体CRM197基因的克隆与表达

目的构建白喉毒素(Diphtheria toxin)无毒突变体CRM197(Cross-reacting materials 197)的原核表达载体,并在大肠杆菌中表达重组蛋白。方法以白喉杆菌(ATCC39255)基因组DNA为模版,采用聚合酶链式反应(Polymerase chain reaction,PCR)扩增CRM197基因,插入表达载体pET11b中,构建重组原核表达质粒pET11b-CRM197。经双酶切及测序鉴定正确后,重组质粒被转化入大肠杆菌Rosetta 2(DE3)pLysS,IPTG诱导表达,表达产物经SDS-PAGE和Western blot进行鉴定。结果重组表达质粒经双酶切及测序鉴定,结果表明与预期一致;表达的重组蛋白相对分子质量约58 000,并可与鼠抗CRM197单克隆抗体特异性结合。结论已成功构建了重组原核表达载体pET11b-CRM197,重组的CRM197蛋白在大肠杆菌中得到了表达,为以该重组突变体作蛋白载体制备结合疫苗奠定了基础。     

分子伴侣对白喉毒素无毒突变体CRM197重组蛋白在大肠杆菌中可溶性表达的促进作用

为了获得有活性的白喉毒素突变体蛋白 (Cross-reacting material 197,CRM197),本研究利用分子伴侣pG-KJE8与重组质粒pET28a-CRM197在大肠杆菌原核表达系统中进行共表达,来促进目的蛋白的正确折叠,进而提高CRM197蛋白的可溶性表达。将质粒转化至大肠杆菌后并诱导其表达目的蛋白,再通过SDS-PAGE胶染色、Western blotting等技术对所得蛋白进行检测分析。结果发现：利用体外重组技术成功得到了pET28a-CRM197重组蛋白原核表达质粒,且CRM197重组蛋白在原核表达系统中主要以包涵体形式表达;通过探索和优化,确定了诱导蛋白的最佳浓度和温度,当加入终浓度为1.0 mmol/L IPTG、0.5 mg/mL L-阿拉伯糖、5.0 ng/mL四环素,在20 ℃条件下诱导16 h时,目的蛋白的可溶性表达得到显著提高;可溶性表达的CRM197重组蛋白可以与CRM197一抗发生特异性结合,免疫反应性良好。因此,研究发现分子伴侣pG-KJE8可以促进CRM197重组蛋白在大肠杆菌中以可溶性形式表达,且能很好地与CRM197一抗发生特异性结合,证实CRM197重组蛋白具有良好的免疫反应性,为CRM197蛋白的工业化生产及应用奠定了一定的基础。     

Design and expression of a diphtheria toxin hybrid protein and human interleukin-2 gene in Escherichia coli]

Recombinant fusion proteins consist of the N-terminal 488 or 513 amino acids of diphtheria toxin joined to human interleukin 2. Initially those fusion proteins were expressed in E. coli under the control of the tox promotor. Western blot analyses showed that E. coli strains bearing the hybrid genes produce 68 kDa or 72 kDa fusion proteins that retain the immunological determinants of both the diphtheria toxin component and the interleukin 2 component. The fusion protein with mol. mass 72 kDa was partially purified by affinity chromatography. The expression of the fusion proteins under the control of the strong promotors was increased (100-fold for tac- promotor) compared to that under the control of the tox promotor. DT-IL2 might be a useful cytotoxic agent in the treatment of diseases involving IL2 receptor-positive cells, such as allograft rejection, graft-versus-host disease, multiple sclerosis et al.     

白喉毒素突变体CRM197在大肠杆菌中表达纯化及性质研究

CRM197是一种白喉毒素突变体,作为载体蛋白广泛用于疫苗开发。将合成的CRM197基因片段克隆到表达载体pET25b中,转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),经IPTG诱导,CRM197获得高效表达,达到菌体总蛋白的20%。目的蛋白主要以包涵体形式存在,变性、复性后经DEAE阴离子交换、S-100分子筛纯化获得纯度高于95%的CRM197样品,用该蛋白样品免疫新西兰大白兔,免疫兔血清中检测到特异性抗体应答。急性毒性试验中,每只豚鼠皮下注射200μgCRM197纯化样品,未出现明显毒性反应症状,与之相比较,注射后48h内,20ng白喉毒素阳性对照组动物全部死亡。结果表明,利用本试验的表达策略,CRM197得到高效表达,并且具有良好的免疫原性和安全性,为其进一步生产及应用奠定基础。     

人脑源性神经营养因子基因的克隆及在大肠杆菌中表达

人脑源性神经营养因子基因的克隆及在大肠杆菌中表达何晓龙,路长林,王成海（第二军医大学神经生物学教研室,上海２００４３３）关键词神经营养因子;基因克隆脑源性神经营养因子（ｂｒａｉｎ－ｄｅｒｉｖｅｄｎｅｕｒｏｔｉｃ…ｉ。血。ｔｏｒ,ＢＤ贾助是Ｂａｄｅ等人...     

Expression and purification of a trivalent pertussis toxin-diphtheria toxin-tetanus toxin fusion protein in Escherichia coli

Pertussis toxoid, diphtheria toxoid, and tetanus toxoid are key components of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccines. The efficacy of the vaccines is well documented, however, the vaccines are expensive partly because the antigens are derived from three different bacteria. In this study, a fusion protein (PDT) composed of the immunoprotective S1 fragment of pertussis toxin, the full-length non-toxic diphtheria toxin, and fragment C of tetanus toxin was constructed via genetic means. The correct fusion was verified by restriction endonuclease analysis and Western immunoblotting. Escherichia coli carrying the recombinant plasmid (pCoPDT) produced a 161kDa protein that was recognized by antibodies specific to the three toxins. The expression of the PDT protein was inducible by isopropyl-beta-d-thio-galactoside but the total amount of protein produced was relatively low. Attempts to improve the protein yield by expression in an E. coli strain (Rosetta-gami 2) that could alleviate rare-codon usage bias and by supplementation of the growth media with amino acids deemed to be a limiting factor in translation were not successful. The PDT protein remained in the insoluble fraction when the recombinant E. coli was grown at 37 degrees C but the protein became soluble when the bacteria were grown at 22 degrees C. The PDT protein was isolated via affinity chromatography on a NiCAM column. The protein was associated with five other proteins via disulfide bonds and non-covalent interactions. Following treatment with beta-mercaptoethanol, the PDT fusion was purified to homogeneity by preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with a yield of 45 microg/L of culture. Antisera generated against the purified PDT protein recognized the native toxins indicating that some, if not all, of the native epitopes were conserved.     

The amino-acid sequence of two non-toxic mutants of diphtheria toxin: CRM45 and CRM197.

The amino-acid sequences of two diphtheria toxin-related, non-toxic proteins, CRM45 and CRM197 , were deduced from the complete sequence of their genes: tox 45 and tox 197. CRM45 lacks the last 149 C-terminal amino-acid residues, but is otherwise identical to diphtheria toxin: a single C----T transition introduces an "ochre" (TAA) termination signal in tox 45, after the codon for threonine-386. A single G----A transition was also found in tox 197, leading to the substitution of glycine-52, present in the wild-type toxin, with glutamic acid in CRM197 . This aminoacid change is responsible for the loss of the NAD:EF2 ADP-ribosyltransferase activity in CRM197 , due most probably to an alteration of the NAD+ binding site.     

Overexpression and purification of the recombinant diphtheria toxin variant CRM197 in Escherichia coli

The expression of the recombinant diphtheria toxin mutant CRM197 in bacteria other than Corynebacterium diphtheriae has proven to be difficult. Here we propose a new and alternative procedure for the production of full-length CRM197 in Escherichia coli. The present study relates specifically to the expression of an artificial sequence and to a method for the isolation and purification of the corresponding protein. In particular, a synthetic gene coding for CRM197, bearing a short histidine tag and optimized for E. coli codon usage, was cloned in the pET9a vector. Accordingly, the over-expression of the protein was simply induced with arabinose in E. coli BL21AI. The recombinant protein was insoluble and always found inside protein aggregates, which were solubilised using urea. Surprisingly, the expression of CRM197, devoid of the short tag, always failed. Following a refolding step, the his-tagged CRM197 was purified by affinity and gel-filtration chromatography and the purity of the final preparation reached 95%. Interestingly, the recombinant protein features DNase activity, indicating that the presence of the tag is not affecting its biochemical properties. However, the removal of the synthetic tag could be easily obtained by incubating the target protein with a proper quantity of a commercial enterokinase.     

霍乱毒素B亚单位基因（CtxB）的克隆及其表达

从霍乱弧菌中抽提基因组ＤＮＡ,用ＰＣＥＲ方法获取霍乱毒素Ｂ亚单位基因（ＣｔｘＢ）。序列分析结果表明,ＣｔｘＢ基因编码１２４个氨基酸,其中编码６２位Ｔｈｒ的密码子与文献报道有差异。将ＣｔｘＢ基因插入质粒ｐＧＥＸ－４Ｔ－２,构建ｐＧＥＸ－ＣＴＸＢ表达质粒,转化大肠相菌ＢＬ２１（ＤＥ３０,筛选表达菌株ＣＴＸＢ／ＢＬ２１。工程株经ＩＰＴＧ诱导表达,可产生大量的表达蛋白,经ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ分析,融合蛋白分子     

Molecular Cloning,Structural Modeling and the Production of Soluble Triple-Mutated Diphtheria Toxoid (K51E/G52E/E148K) Co-expressed with Molecular Chaperones in Recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis>

CRM197 is a diphtheria toxin (DT) mutant (G52E) which has been used as a carrier protein for conjugate vaccines. However, it still possesses cytotoxicity toward mammalian cells. The goal of this project was to produce a non-toxic and soluble CRM197EK through introduction of triple amino acid substitutions (K51E/G52E/E148K) in Escherichia coli. The expression of CRM197EKTrxHis was optimized and co-expressed with different molecular chaperones. The soluble CRM197EKTrxHis was produced at a high concentration (97.33 ± 17.47 μg/ml) under the optimal condition (induction with 0.1 mM IPTG at 20 °C for 24 h). Cells containing pG-Tf2, expressing trigger factor and GroEL-GroES, accumulated the highest amount of soluble CRM197EKTrxHis at 111.24 ± 10.40 μg/ml after induction for 24 h at 20 °C. The soluble CRM197EKTrxHis still possesses nuclease activity and completely digest λDNA at 25 and 37 °C with 8- and 4-h incubation, respectively. Molecular modeling of diphtheria toxin, CRM197 and CRM197EK indicated that substitutions of two amino acids (K51E/E148K) may cause poor NAD binding, consistent with the lack of toxicity. Therefore, CRM197EK might be used as a new potential carrier protein. However, further in vivo study is required to confirm its roles as functional carrier protein in conjugate vaccines.     

Expression of the type I regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase in Escherichia coli

An expression vector has been constructed for the type I regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. A cDNA clone for the bovine RI-subunit has been inserted into pUC7. When Escherichia coli JM105 was transformed with this plasmid, R-subunit was expressed in amounts that approached 4 mg/liter. The expressed protein was visualized in total cell extracts by photolabeling with 8-azidoadenosine 3':5'-mono[32P]phosphate following transfer from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose. Expression of R-subunit was independent of isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside. R-subunit accumulated in large amounts only in the stationary phase of growth, and the addition of isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside during the log phase of growth actually blocked the accumulation of R-subunit. Maximum expression (20 mg/liter) was achieved when E. coli 222 was transformed with the RI-containing plasmid. E. coli 222 is a strain that contains two mutations; it is cya- and also has a mutation in the catabolite gene activator protein (crp) that enables the protein to bind to DNA in the absence of cAMP. The expressed RI-subunit was a soluble, dimeric protein, and no significant proteolysis was apparent in the cell extract. The purified RI-subunit bound 2 mol of cAMP/mol of R monomer, reassociated with C-subunit to form holoenzyme, and migrated as a dimer on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels in the absence of reducing agents. The expressed protein was also susceptible to limited proteolysis, yielding a monomeric cAMP-binding fragment having a molecular weight of 35,000. In all of these properties, the expressed protein was indistinguishable from RI purified from bovine tissue even though the R-subunit expressed in E. coli represents a fusion protein that contains 10 additional amino acids at the amino terminus that are provided by the lac Z' gene of the vector. This NH2-terminal sequence was confirmed by amino acid sequencing.     

Expression of adenovirus type 12 E1b 58-kDa protein in Escherichia coli and production of antibodies raised against a 58-kDa::beta-galactosidase fusion protein

DNA fragments coding for the N-terminal 185 amino acids (aa) and for the entire coding region of the adenovirus (Ad)12 E1b 58-kDa protein have been cloned in a prokaryotic expression vector. The N-terminal region of the 58-kDa viral protein (aa 21-205) is expressed as a beta-galactosidase (beta Gal) fusion protein encoded by plasmid pB58Ngal. Escherichia coli strains transformed with this plasmid synthesize a full-length fusion protein of 150-kDa and two truncated proteins: a 140-kDa protein containing aa 64-205 and a 120-kDa polypeptide containing aa 158-205 of the E1b 58-kDa protein. Antibodies raised against purified fusion proteins specifically immunoprecipitate the E1b 58-kDa protein from Ad12-infected and transformed cells. Bacteria transformed with plasmid pB58 carrying the entire E1b 58-kDa coding region (minus the first N-terminal 20 aa which are replaced by 4 aa of beta Gal) showed dramatically reduced growth properties after induction of 58K gene expression. We have not been able to detect substantial amounts of the 58-kDa protein in these cells. However, the viral 58-kDa polypeptide could be synthesized in vitro from plasmid pB58 in a DNA-dependent translation system from E. coli.