A green fluorescent protein screen for identification of well‐expressed membrane proteins from a cohort of extremophilic organisms

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion proteins provide a potentially facile tool for identification of well expressed, properly behaved membrane proteins for biochemical and structural study. Here, we present a GFP-expression survey of >300 membrane proteins from 18 bacterial and archaeal extremophiles, organisms expected to be rich sources of membrane proteins having robust biophysical properties. We find that GFP-fusion fluorescence intensity is an excellent indicator of over-expression potential. By employing a follow-up optimization protocol using a suite of non-GFP constructs and different expression temperatures, we obtain 0.5–15 mg L⁻¹ expression levels for 90% of the tested candidate proteins that pass the GFP screen. Evaluation of the results suggests that certain organisms may serve as better sources of well-expressed membrane proteins than others, that the degree to which codon usage matches the expression host is uncorrelated with success rate, and that the combination of GFP screening and expression optimization is essential for producing biochemically tractable quantities of material.     

Temperature control of growth and productivity in mutant Chinese hamster ovary cells synthesizing a recombinant protein

The use of a temperature switch to control the growth and productivity of temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants was investigated to extend the productive life span of recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in batch culture. Bromodeoxyuridine was used at 39 degrees C to select mutagenized CHO-K1 cells, which resulted in the isolation of 31 temperature-sensitive mutants that were growth inhibited at 39 degrees C. Two of these mutants were successfully transfected with the gene for tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) using glutamine synthetase amplification, and a permanent recombinant cell line established (5G1-B1) that maintains the ts phenotype.Continuous exposure to the nonpermissive temperature (npt) of 39 degrees C led to a rapid decline in cell viability. However, a temperature regime using alternating incubations at 34 degrees C and 39 degrees C arrested the 5G1-B1 cells while retaining a high cell viability for up to 170 h in culture. The specific production rate of the growth-arrested cells was 3-4 times that of control cultures maintained at a constant 34 degrees C over the crucial 72-130-h period of culture, which resulted in a 35% increase in the maximum product yield. Glucose uptake and lactate production both decreased in arrested cells. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that 5G1-B1 cells arrested in the G(1) or G(0) phase of the cell cycle, and no major structural damage was caused to these cells by the alternating temperature regime.These results demonstrate that growth-arrested ts CHO cells have increased productivity compared to growing cultures and maintain viability for longer periods. The system offers the prospect of enhancing the productivity of recombinant mammalian cells grown in simple batch fermentors. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Isolation, characterization and recombinant protein expression in Veggie-CHO: A serum-free CHO host cell line

The dihydrofolate reductase-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cell line, DXB11-CHO, commonly used as a host cell for the production of recombinant proteins requires 7.5% serum-supplementation for optimal growth. Regulatory issues surrounding the use of serum in clinical production processes and the direct and indirect costs of using serum in large-scale production and recovery processes have triggered efforts to derive serum-independent host cell lines. We have successfully isolated a serum-free host that we named Veggie- CHO. Veggie-CHO was generated by adapting DXB11-CHO cells to growth in serum-free media in the absence of exogenous growth factors such as Transferrin and Insulin-like growth factor, which we have previously shown to be essential for growth and viability of DXB11- CHO cells. Veggie-CHO cells have been shown to maintain an average doubling time of 22 hr in continuous growth cultures over a period of three months and have retained the dihydrofolate reductase -deficient phenotype of their parental DXB11-CHO cells. These properties and the stability of its serum-free phenotype have allowed the use of Veggie- CHO as host cells for transfection and amplified expression of recombinant proteins. We describe the derivation a serum-free recombinant cell line with an average doubling time of 20 hr and specific productivity of 2.5 Units recombinant Flt-3L protein per 10e6 cells per day. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Generation of stable, high-producing CHO cell lines by lentiviral vector-mediated gene transfer in serum-free suspension culture

Lentivirus‐derived vectors (LVs) were studied for the generation of stable recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines. Stable pools and clones expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) were selected via fluorescence‐activated cell sorting (FACS). For comparison, cell pools and cell lines were also generated by transfection, using the LV transfer plasmid alone. The level and stability of eGFP expression was greater in LV‐transduced cell lines and pools than in those established by transfection. CHO cells were also infected at two different multiplicities of infection with an LV co‐expressing eGFP and a tumor necrosis factor receptor:Fc fusion protein (TNFR:Fc). At 2‐day post‐infection, clonal cell lines with high eGFP‐specific fluorescence were recovered by FACS. These clones co‐expressed TNFR:Fc with yields of 50–250 mg/L in 4‐day cultures. The recovered cell lines maintained stable expression over 3 months in serum‐free suspension culture without selection. In conclusion, LV‐mediated gene transfer provided an efficient alternative to plasmid transfection for the generation of stable and high‐producing recombinant cell lines. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011; 108:600–610. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ammonia affects the glycosylation patterns of recombinant mouse placental lactogen-I by chinese hamster ovary cells in a pH-dependent manner

The N-linked glycosylation of the recombinant protein mouse placental lactogen-I (mPL-I) expressed by Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells under nongrowth conditions was inhibited by increasing levels of ammonium chloride (3 and 9 mM) in a serum-free, protein expression medium. The effect of ammonia on glycosylation was dependent on the extracellular pH (pH(e)). In media containing 0 and 9 mM ammonium chloride, the percentage of the most heavily glycosylated forms of secreted mPL-I decreased from ca. 90% to ca. 25% at pH(e) 8.0, and from ca. 90% to ca. 65% at pH(e) 7.6, respectively. However, at pH(e) 7.2, the most heavily glycosylated forms of secreted mPL-I decreased from ca. 90% to ca. 80% in media containing 0 and 9 mM ammonium chloride, respectively. Inhibition of mPL-I glycosylation was found to correlate with the calculated concentrations of the ammonia species (NH(3)). Control experiments showed that the ammonia effect on mPL-I glycosylation could not be attributed to increased chloride concentration or osmolarity, or to extracellular events after secretion of the recombinant protein into the supernatant. Ammonium chloride, 9 mM, inhibited the expression rate of MPL-I by CHO cells at low pH(e). (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Influence of cytoskeleton organization on recombinant protein expression by CHO cells

In this study, we assessed the importance of cytoskeleton organization in the mammalian cells used to produce therapeutic proteins. Two cytoskeletal genes, Actin alpha cardiac muscle 1 (ACTC1) and a guanosine triphosphate GTPase-activating protein (TAGAP), were found to be upregulated in highly productive therapeutic protein-expressing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells selected by the deprivation of vitamin B5. We report here that the overexpression of the ACTC1 protein was able to improve significantly recombinant therapeutic production, as well as to decrease the levels of toxic lactate metabolic by-products. ACTC1 overexpression was accompanied by altered as well as decreased polymerized actin, which was associated with high protein production by CHO cell cultured in suspension. We suggest that the depolymerization of actin and the possible modulation of integrin signaling, as well as changes in basal metabolism, may be driving the increase of protein secretion by CHO cells.     

Fast plasmid based protein expression analysis in insect cells using an automated SplitGFP screen

Recombinant protein expression often presents a bottleneck for the production of proteins for use in many areas of animal‐cell biotechnology. Difficult‐to‐express proteins require the generation of numerous expression constructs, where popular prokaryotic screening systems often fail to identify expression of multi domain or full‐length protein constructs. Post‐translational modified mammalian proteins require an alternative host system such as insect cells using the Baculovirus Expression Vector System (BEVS). Unfortunately this is time‐, labor‐, and cost‐intensive. It is clearly desirable to find an automated and miniaturized fast multi‐sample screening method for protein expression in such systems. With this in mind, in this paper a high‐throughput initial expression screening method is described using an automated Microcultivation system in conjunction with fast plasmid based transient transfection in insect cells for the efficient generation of protein constructs. The applicability of the system is demonstrated for the difficult to express Nucleotide‐binding Oligomerization Domain‐containing protein 2 (NOD2). To enable detection of proper protein expression the rather weak plasmid based expression has been improved by a sensitive inline detection system. Here we present the functionality and application of the sensitive SplitGFP (split green fluorescent protein) detection system in insect cells. The successful expression of constructs is monitored by direct measurement of the fluorescence in the BioLector Microcultivation system. Additionally, we show that the results obtained with our plasmid‐based SplitGFP protein expression screen correlate directly to the level of soluble protein produced in BEVS. In conclusion our automated SplitGFP screen outlines a sensitive, fast and reliable method reducing the time and costs required for identifying the optimal expression construct prior to large scale protein production in baculovirus infected insect cells. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 1975–1983. © 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new red fluorescent protein that allows efficient marking of murine hematopoietic stem cells

Background

Genetic marking of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with multiple fluorescent proteins (FPs) would allow analysis of their features, including interaction with adjacent cells. However, there are few red FPs that are comparable to green FPs in terms of low toxicity and high fluorescent intensity. This study has evaluated the usefulness of Kusabira Orange (KO) originated from the coral stone Fungia concinna as a red FP for marking of HSCs

Methods

A vector used was the MSCV‐type retroviral vector, DΔNsap that has the PCC4 cell‐passaged myeloproliferative sarcoma virus derived long terminal repeat devoid of a binding site for YY1 and the primer‐binding site derived from the dl587rev, respectively. The vector was cloned with the codon‐optimized KO cDNA for higher expression in mammalian cells (huKO) and converted to the corresponding retroviruses pseudotyped with the vesicular stomatitis virus G envelope protein, then transduced into c‐KIT⁺Sca‐1⁺Lineage^? cells obtained from C57BL/6 (Ly5.1) mice followed by transplantation into lethally irradiated Ly5.2 mice.

Results

Approximately 70% of donor‐derived cells highly expressed huKO at 16 weeks post‐transplantation. Furthermore, the high expression of huKO was also detected in serially transplanted mice, suggesting that expression of huKO per se had little deleterious effect on murine hematopoiesis. In double marking experiments, huKO‐expressing hematopoietic cells were easily distinguished from those expressing EGFP by flow cytometery and fluorescent microscope analysis.

Conclusions

Overall, the results obtained from the present study suggest that huKO can be used as a valuable and versatile red fluorescent marker for HSCs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

     

Productivity enhancement of recombinant protein in CHO cells via specific promoter activation by oncogenes

To construct a recombinant protein highly producing cell lines, we have previously developed the Oncogene Activated Production (OAP) system by using BHK-21 cells. Here we verified the availability of the OAP system in CHO cells. We firstly generated ‘primed’ ras amplified CHO cells, ras clone I, by introducing human c-Ha-ras oncogene into CHO cells. This ras clone I enables quick and easy establishment of recombinant protein hyper producing cell lines by introduction reporter gene of interest. Then we generated I13 by introducing human interleukin 6 (hIL-6) gene as a reporter gene, which showed enhanced productivity rate as compared to A7 established by conventional method. Furthermore, we found that hIL-6 production level of I13 was slightly improved by raising the CO₂ concentration from 5 to 8% possibly because of the enhanced growth rate. We further introduced the E1A oncogene, which has been shown to have a synergistic effect on the recombinant protein production of the ras-amplified BHK-21 cells, then evaluated the productivity. When culture in 5% CO₂ condition, only the slight effect can be seen. However when cultured in 8% CO₂ condition, not only cell number, but also productivity increased significantly, resulted in great augmentation of hIL-6 production, maximum production being 88.6 μg/ml/3 days. This study demonstrates that recombinant protein production level reached commercially desirable level by utilizing our OAP system in CHO cells and optimizing the culture condition. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Serum-free suspensin large-scale transient transfection of CHO cells in WAVE bioreactors

Here, we report the development of a large-scale transient expression platform utilizing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The majority of recombinant proteins and antibodies that are produced for preclinical models and clinical trials are expressed in stably transfected CHO cells. A protocol for transient transfection of CHO cells that is rapid, reproducible, and cost-effective would therefore streamline the process from research to development and help avoid any potential host species induced variation in the molecule of interest. CHO cells were adapted to grow in serum-free suspension conditions in spinner flask cultures in a proprietary in-house developed growth medium. In developing this transient transfection protocol, the parameters optimized included the transfection reagent of choice, the cell density at the time of transfection, the plasmid DNA concentration, and the transfection reagent concentration. Using this optimized protocol, we have expressed recombinant proteins, including antibodies, at an expression level of up to 9.4 mg/L. We also report transient transfections from 500 mL working volume (w.v.) up to 20 L w.v. in a WAVE^TM bioreactor. Using this optimized protocol, it is possible to rapidly (within 10 d) produce up to 100 mg of recombinant protein for further study.     

Selectable high‐yield recombinant protein production in human cells using a GFP/YFP nanobody affinity support

Recombinant protein expression systems that produce high yields of pure proteins and multi‐protein complexes are essential to meet the needs of biologists, biochemists, and structural biologists using X‐ray crystallography and cryo‐electron microscopy. An ideal expression system for recombinant human proteins is cultured human cells where the correct translation and chaperone machinery are present. However, compared to bacterial expression systems, human cell cultures present several technical challenges to their use as an expression system. We developed a method that utilizes a YFP fusion‐tag to generate recombinant proteins using suspension‐cultured HEK293F cells. YFP is a dual‐function tag that enables direct visualization and fluorescence‐based selection of high expressing clones for and rapid purification using a high‐stringency, high‐affinity anti‐GFP/YFP nanobody support. We demonstrate the utility of this system by expressing two large human proteins, TOP2α (340 KDa dimer) and a TOP2β catalytic core (260 KDa dimer). This robustly and reproducibly yields >10 mg/L liter of cell culture using transient expression or 2.5 mg/L using stable expression.     

Butyrated ManNAc analog improves protein expression in Chinese hamster ovary cells

The chemical additive sodium butyrate (NaBu) has been applied in cell culture media as a direct and convenient method to increase the protein expression in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and other mammalian cells. In this study, we examined an alternative chemical additive, 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc, for its effect on recombinant protein production in CHO. Supplementation with 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc for two stable CHO cell lines, expressing human erythropoietin or IgG, enhanced protein expression for both products with negligible impact on cell growth, viability, glucose utilization, and lactate accumulation. In contrast, sodium butyrate treatment resulted in a ～20% decrease in maximal viable cell density and ～30% decrease in cell viability at the end of cell cultures compared to untreated or 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc treated CHO cell lines for both products. While NaBu treatment enhanced product yields more than the 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc treatment, the NaBu treated cells also exhibited higher levels of caspase 3 positive cells using microscopy analysis. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of four cell apoptosis genes (Cul2, BAK, BAX, and BCL2L11) were up‐regulated more in sodium butyrate treated wild‐type, erythropoietin, or IgG expressing CHO‐K1 cell lines while most of the mRNA levels of apoptosis genes in 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc treated cell lines remained equal or increased only slightly compared to the levels in untreated CHO cell lines. Finally, lectin blot analysis revealed that the 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc‐treated cells displayed higher relative sialylation levels on recombinant EPO, consistent with the effect of the ManNAc component of this additive, compared to control while NaBu treatment led to lower sialylation levels than control, or 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc‐treatment. These findings demonstrate that 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc has fewer negative effects on cell cytotoxicity and apoptosis, perhaps as a result of a more deliberate uptake and release of the butyrate compounds, while simultaneously increasing the expression of multiple recombinant proteins, and improving the glycosylation characteristics when applied at comparable molarity levels to NaBu. Thus, 1,3,4‐O‐Bu₃ManNAc represents a highly promising media additive alternative in cell culture for improving protein yields without sacrificing cell mass and product quality in future bioproduction processes.

     

Fluorescent proteins in animal cells for process development: optimization of sodium butyrate treatment as an example.

Fluorescent proteins expressed in mammalian cells can be quantified quickly and noninvasively with a standard fluorescence plate reader. We have previously exploited this quality in cell growth assessment (Hunt et al., 1999b). In this work, different CHO cell lines constitutively expressing fluorescent proteins were evaluated as model systems for process development and optimization. Our results demonstrate that the fluorescence of these cell lines quickly reveals conditions that might improve the overall productivity. Sodium butyrate, a well-known yet unpredictable enhancer of production, was chosen for this study. Due to the competing effects of sodium butyrate ("butyrate") on expression and cell number, the maximal overall productivity represents a compromise between enhancement of production and toxicity. Based on fluorescence only, it is possible to separate effects on cell number and specific production by combining microplate fluorescence measurements with data obtained by flow cytometry. This allows for rapid screening of different clones without counting cells or quantifying the recombinant protein, a highly attractive feature if the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was correlated to that of a protein of interest. For all clones tested, negative effects of butyrate on proliferation were similar, while net enhancement of expression was characteristic for each clone. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize treatment for each individual clone. This work demonstrates that, based on the fluorescence of GFP-expresssing cell lines, it is possible to examine noninvasively three critical, generic parameters of butyrate treatment: butyrate concentration, exposure time, and culture phase at the time of addition.