An engineered chaperonin caging a guest protein: Structural insights and potential as a protein expression tool |
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Authors: | Furutani Masahiro Hata Jun-Ichi Shomura Yasuhito Itami Keisuke Yoshida Takao Izumoto Yoshitaka Togi Akiko Ideno Akira Yasunaga Takuo Miki Kunio Maruyama Tadashi |
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Institution: | Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd., Hyakuyama 2-1, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka 618-8589, Japan. furutani002@sekisui.jp |
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Abstract: | The structure of a chaperonin caging a substrate protein is not quite clear. We made engineered group II chaperonins fused with a guest protein and analyzed their structural and functional features. Thermococcus sp. KS-1 chaperonin alpha-subunit (TCP) which forms an eightfold symmetric double-ring structure was used. Expression plasmids were constructed which carried two or four TCP genes ligated head to tail in phase and a target protein gene at the 3' end of the linked TCP genes. Electron microscopy showed that the expressed gene products with the molecular sizes of ~120 kDa (di-TCP) and ~230 kDa (tetra-TCP) formed double-ring complexes similar to those of wild-type TCP. The tetra-TCP retained ATPase activity and its thermostability was significantly higher than that of the wild type. A 260-kDa fusion protein of tetra-TCP and green fluorescent protein (GFP, 27 kDa) was able to form the double-ring complexes with green fluorescence. Image analyses indicated that the GFP moiety of tetra-TCP/GFP fusion protein was accommodated in the central cavity, and tetra-TCP/GFP formed the closed-form similar to that crystallographically resolved in group II chaperonins. Furthermore, it was suggested that caging GFP expanded the cavity around the bottom. Using this tetra-TCP fusion strategy, two virus structural proteins (21-25 kDa) toxic to host cells or two antibody fragments (25-36 kDa) prone to aggregate were well expressed in the soluble fraction of Escherichia coli. These fusion products also assembled to double-ring complexes, suggesting encapsulation of the guest proteins. The antibody fragments liberated by site-specific protease digestion exhibited ligand-binding activities. |
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Keywords: | chaperonin structure archaea fusion protein protein folding protein expression |
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