Proteosynthetic activity of immobilized Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease: application in the semisynthesis of molecular variants of alpha-globin

Improvement of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin function by Bacillus licheformis glutamate-specific endopeptidase treatment

Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) was widely used in metabolic engineering to improve oxygen utilization in the low oxygen environment. It is sometimes necessary to remove affinity tags because they may impede functions of target proteins. Here we report an efficient method employing Glutamate-specific endopeptidase from Bacillus licheformis (GSE-BL) to perform the cleavage between VHb and His-tag. The optimal length of GSE-BL treatment was 15min. Results of SDS-PAGE and western blot demonstrated that the His-tag of VHb-His(6) was nearly completely removed, the purity of VHb was enhanced from 74% to 99.5%, and the yield of tagless VHb from VHb-His(6) was 92.2%. Results of CO difference spectrum suggested that tagless VHb was more prone to bind to CO compared with VHb-His(6). It was observed that tagless VHb displayed higher catalase activity than VHb-His(6). The enhancement of welan gum yield was more significant by addition of tagless VHb compared with addition of VHb-His(6). This method can be utilized to mass-produce tagless VHb, thus widening the application of VHb in various industries.

Hemoglobin Einstein: semisynthetic deletion in the B-helix of the alpha-chain

The influence of the deletion of the tetra peptide segment alpha(23-26) of the B-helix of the alpha-chain of hemoglobin-A on its assembly, structure, and functional properties has been investigated. The hemoglobin with the deletion, ss-Hemoglobin-Einstein, is readily assembled from semisynthetic alpha(1-141) des(23-26) globin and human betaA-chain. The deletion of alpha(23-26) modulates the O2 affinity of hemoglobin in a buffer/allosteric effector specific fashion, but has little influence on the Bohr effect. The deletion has no influence on the thermodynamic stability of the alpha1beta1 and the alpha1beta2 interface. The semisynthetic hemoglobin exhibits normal intersubunit interactions at the alpha1beta1 and alpha1beta2 interfaces as reflected by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Molecular modeling studies of ss-Hemoglobin-Einstein suggest that the segment alpha(28-35) is in a helical conformation, while the segment alpha(19-22) is the nonhelical AB region. The shortened B-helix conserves the interactions of alpha1beta1 interface. The results demonstrate a high degree of plasticity in the hemoglobin structure that accommodates the deletion of alpha(23-26) without perturbing its overall global conformation.

Mapping of recombinant hemoglobin using immobilized trypsin cartridges

A tryptic mapping procedure has been developed for a recombinant hemoglobin (rHb1.1) using an immobilized trypsin cartridge. Apohemoglobin is passed through the trypsin cartridge and the products of the digestion are captured directly onto an in-line C18 reversed-phase column. The peptides are then separated using a gradient elution. This new procedure is rapid and reproducible and can be fully automated. The total time of analysis is less than 2 h. The mapping of apohemoglobins produced an unexpected isomerization of two peptides: beta8,9 (K66-K82) and alpha8,9 (K61-K90). It appears that the isomerization may occur through transpeptidation followed by proteolysis at a newly generated site next to the site of ligation. This mapping procedure can be a useful tool for research and routine analysis of proteins.