High-throughput purification of hexahistidine-tagged proteins expressed in E. coli

Overcoming the Solubility Problem in E. coli: Available Approaches for Recombinant Protein Production

Despite the importance of recombinant protein production in the academy and industrial fields, many issues concerning the expression of soluble and homogeneous products are still unsolved. Several strategies were developed to overcome these obstacles; however, at present, there is no magic bullet that can be applied for all cases. Indeed, several key expression parameters need to be evaluated for each protein. Among the different hosts for protein expression, Escherichia coli is by far the most widely used. In this chapter, we review many of the different tools employed to circumvent protein insolubility problems.

SlyD-deficient Escherichia coli strains: A highway to contaminant-free protein extraction

Binding of native bacterial protein SlyD to metal affinity matrices remains a major problem in affinity purification of His-tagged recombinant proteins from Escherichia coli cells. In this study, four novel E. coli strains that lack the expression of SlyD/SlyX, were engineered using λ-red mediated chromosomal deletion. The resultant mutant E. coli strains allow us to obtain SlyD-free proteins immediately after metal affinity chromatography, and eliminate additional purification processes. As a model protein, bispecific antibodies composed of anti-F4/80 V_HH module and anti-TNF V_HH module (MYSTI-2) were used. Using this protein we have shown that the SlyD/SlyX-deficient E. coli strains allow us to obtain a fully functional protein.

Overcoming the solubility problem in E. coli: available approaches for recombinant protein production

Despite the importance of recombinant protein production in academy and industrial fields, many issues concerning the expression of soluble and homogeneous product are still unsolved. Although several strategies were developed to overcome these obstacles, at present there is no magic bullet that can be applied for all cases. Indeed, several key expression parameters need to be evaluated for each protein. Among the different hosts for protein expression, Escherichia coli is by far the most widely used. In this chapter, we review many of the different tools employed to circumvent protein insolubility problems.

Generation of a vector suite for protein solubility screening

Recombinant protein expression has become an invaluable tool for academic and biotechnological projects. With the use of high-throughput screening technologies for soluble protein production, uncountable target proteins have been produced in a soluble and homogeneous state enabling the realization of further studies. Evaluation of hundreds conditions requires the use of high-throughput cloning and screening methods. Here we describe a new versatile vector suite dedicated to the expression improvement of recombinant proteins (RP) with solubility problems. This vector suite allows the parallel cloning of the same PCR product into the 12 different expression vectors evaluating protein expression under different promoter strength, different fusion tags as well as different solubility enhancer proteins. Additionally, we propose the use of a new fusion protein which appears to be a useful solubility enhancer. Above all we propose in this work an economic and useful vector suite to fast track the solubility of different RP. We also propose a new solubility enhancer protein that can be included in the evaluation of the expression of RP that are insoluble in classical expression conditions.

Direct quantification of PTD transduction using real-time monitoring

Protein transduction domains (PTD or cell-permeable proteins) have attracted much attention as drug carriers because of their ability to penetrate cellular membranes. Although numerous PTD have been identified and their properties elucidated, their mechanism of action has not been fully understood due to the absence of a reliable quantification method. This chapter provides a direct method for quantifying cellular transduction of PTD in vitro and in vivo using bioluminescence imaging (BLI). This methodology exploits noninvasive techniques to create an environment suitable for the real-time imaging of PTD transduction and is therefore a promising tool for studying the mechanism of PTD transduction and the in vivo application of new therapeutic candidates.

Tuning different expression parameters to achieve soluble recombinant proteins in E. coli: advantages of high-throughput screening

Proteins are the main reagents for structural, biomedical, and biotechnological studies; however, some important challenges remain concerning protein solubility and stability. Numerous strategies have been developed, with some success, to mitigate these challenges, but a universal strategy is still elusive. Currently, researchers face a plethora of alternatives for the expression of the target protein, which generates a great diversity of conditions to be evaluated. Among these, different promoter strength, diverse expression host and constructs, or special culture conditions have an important role in protein solubility. With the arrival of automated high-throughput screening (HTS) systems, the evaluation of hundreds of different conditions within reasonable cost and time limits is possible. This technology increases the chances to obtain the target protein in a pure, soluble, and stable state. This review focuses on some of the most commonly used strategies for the expression of recombinant proteins in the enterobacterium Escherichia coli, including the use of HTS for the production of soluble proteins.

Microbial polyhydroxyalkanote synthesis repression protein PhaR as an affinity tag for recombinant protein purification

Background

PhaR which is a repressor protein for microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) biosynthesis, is able to attach to bacterial PHA granules in vivo, was developed as an affinity tag for in vitro protein purification. Fusion of PhaR-tagged self-cleavable Ssp DnaB intein to the N-terminus of a target protein allowed protein purification with a pH and temperature shift. During the process, the target protein was released to the supernatant while PhaR-tagged intein was still immobilized on the PHA nanoparticles which were then separated by centrifugation.

Results

Fusion protein PhaR-intein-target protein was expressed in recombinant Escherichia coli. The cell lysates after sonication and centrifugation were collected and then incubated with PHA nanoparticles to allow sufficient absorption onto the PHA nanoparticles. After several washing processes, self-cleavage of intein was triggered by pH and temperature shift. As a result, the target protein was released from the particles and purified after centrifugation. As target proteins, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), maltose binding protein (MBP) and β-galactosidase (lacZ), were successfully purified using the PhaR based protein purification method.

Conclusion

The successful purification of EGFP, MBP and LacZ indicated the feasibility of this PhaR based in vitro purification system. Moreover, the elements used in this system can be easily obtained and prepared by users themselves, so they can set up a simple protein purification strategy by themselves according to the PhaR method, which provides another choice instead of expensive commercial protein purification systems.

Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography of histidine-tagged fusion proteins

Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) is a ubiquitous technique in modem recombinant production and purification. The wide range of expression vectors for the production of histidine-tagged recombinant proteins as well as the variety of stationary supports for their separation make IMAC an attractive and versatile choice for fast and reliable protein purification. It is not uncommon for IMAC purification to yield near homogenous target protein, with purities over 95%. The small size of the histidine tag means that in many cases it can remain associated with the target protein without interference with its intended function, obviating the need for any potentially complicating tag removal steps. This chapter provides protocols for the routine purification of such histidine-tagged fusion proteins. As with any purification regime, complications with IMAC can arise. Lacking the absolute specificity of a biological ligand/ligate system such as the avidin/biotin interaction or an antibody and its cognate antigen, IMAC can sometimes display non-ideal product purity. The protocols described in this chapter provide strategies for the improvement in the purity of IMAC-purified proteins. Similarly, non-specific binding may reduce product yields and purity in some circumstances. Methodologies for enhancing the yield of the target protein are therefore provided.

Enhanced bacterial protein expression during auto-induction obtained by alteration of lac repressor dosage and medium composition

The auto-induction method of protein expression in E. coli is based on diauxic growth resulting from dynamic function of lac operon regulatory elements (lacO and LacI) in mixtures of glucose, glycerol, and lactose. The results show that successful execution of auto-induction is strongly dependent on the plasmid promoter and repressor construction, on the oxygenation state of the culture, and on the composition of the auto-induction medium. Thus expression hosts expressing high levels of LacI during aerobic growth exhibit reduced ability to effectively complete the auto-induction process. Manipulation of the promoter to decrease the expression of LacI altered the preference for lactose consumption in a manner that led to increased protein expression and partially relieved the sensitivity of the auto-induction process to the oxygenation state of the culture. Factorial design methods were used to optimize the chemically defined growth medium used for expression of two model proteins, Photinus luciferase and enhanced green fluorescent protein, including variations for production of both unlabeled and selenomethionine-labeled samples. The optimization included studies of the expression from T7 and T7-lacI promoter plasmids and from T5 phage promoter plasmids expressing two levels of LacI. Upon the basis of the analysis of over 500 independent expression results, combinations of optimized expression media and expression plasmids that gave protein yields of greater than 1000 mug/mL of expression culture were identified.

Structural analysis and classification of native proteins from E. coli commonly co-purified by immobilised metal affinity chromatography

Immobilised metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) is the most widely used technique for single-step purification of recombinant proteins. However, despite its use in the purification of heterologue proteins in the eubacteria Escherichia coli for decades, the presence of native E. coli proteins that exhibit a high affinity for divalent cations such as nickel, cobalt or copper has remained problematic. This is of particular relevance when recombinant molecules are not expressed at high levels or when their overexpression induces that of native bacterial proteins due to pleiotropism and/or in response to stress conditions. Identification of such contaminating proteins is clearly relevant to those involved in the purification of histidine-tagged proteins either at small/medium scale or in high-throughput processes. The work presented here reviews the native proteins from E. coli most commonly co-purified by IMAC, including Fur, Crp, ArgE, SlyD, GlmS, GlgA, ODO1, ODO2, YadF and YfbG. The binding of these proteins to metal-chelating resins can mostly be explained by their native metal-binding functions or their possession of surface clusters of histidine residues. However, some proteins fall outside these categories, implying that a further class of interactions may account for their ability to co-purify with histidine-tagged proteins. We propose a classification of these E. coli native proteins based on their physicochemical, structural and functional properties.

The effect of the hexahistidine-tag in the oligomerization of HSC70 constructs

The hexahistidine is a fusion tag used for the isolation of proteins via an immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC). In the present study, we have purified and analyzed two constructs of the heat shock protein HSC70 in the presence or the absence of the His-tag (C30WT-His(+)/C30WT and C30DeltaL-His(+)/C30DeltaL). The oligomerization properties of the constructs were analyzed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and analytical ultracentrifugation (AU). Results from SEC analysis indicated that the His-tag promotes the dimerization of C30DeltaL-His(+) but has no effect on the elution profile of C30WT-His(+), compared to their respective untagged forms C30DeltaL and C30WT. These observations were also confirmed by AU analysis which indicates that C30DeltaL is stabilized in the dimeric form in the presence of the His-tag. These results emphasize the need to remove the His-tag before structural characterization of some recombinant proteins.