1
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Tokmakov AA, Kurotani A, Sato KI. Protein pI and Intracellular Localization. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:775736. [PMID: 34912847 PMCID: PMC8667598 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.775736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The protein isoelectric point (pI) can be calculated from an amino acid sequence using computational analysis in a good agreement with experimental data. Availability of whole-genome sequences empowers comparative studies of proteome-wide pI distributions. It was found that the whole-proteome distributions of protein pI values are multimodal in different species. It was further hypothesized that the observed multimodality is associated with subcellular localization-specific differences in local pI distributions. Here, we overview the multimodality of proteome-wide pI distributions in different organisms focusing on the relationships between protein pI and subcellular localization. We also discuss the probable factors responsible for variation of the intracellular localization-specific pI profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander A Tokmakov
- Department of Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kindai University, Wakayama, Japan
| | - Atsushi Kurotani
- Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN Yokohama Institute, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Ken-Ichi Sato
- Laboratory of Cell Signaling and Development, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan
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2
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Cell-Free Protein Synthesis of Small Intrinsically Disordered Proteins for NMR Spectroscopy. Methods Mol Biol 2020. [PMID: 32696360 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0524-0_11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) is an established method to produce recombinant proteins and has been used in a wide variety of applications. The use of CFPS has almost from the onset been favorably linked to the production of isotopically labelled proteins for NMR spectroscopy as the resulting labelling of the produced protein is defined by the chosen amino acids during reaction setup. Here we describe how to set up production and isotopic labelling of small intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) for NMR spectroscopy applications using an E. coli-based CFPS system in batch mode.
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3
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Novel molecular aspects of the CRISPR backbone protein ‘Cas7’ from cyanobacteria. Biochem J 2020; 477:971-983. [DOI: 10.1042/bcj20200026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
The cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120 shows the presence of Type I-D CRISPR system that can potentially confer adaptive immunity. The Cas7 protein (Alr1562), which forms the backbone of the type I-D surveillance complex, was characterized from Anabaena. Alr1562, showed the presence of the non-canonical RNA recognition motif and two intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs). When overexpressed in E. coli, the Alr1562 protein was soluble and could be purified by affinity chromatography, however, deletion of IDRs rendered Alr1562 completely insoluble. The purified Alr1562 was present in the dimeric or a RNA-associated higher oligomeric form, which appeared as spiral structures under electron microscope. With RNaseA and NaCl treatment, the higher oligomeric form converted to the lower oligomeric form, indicating that oligomerization occurred due to the association of Alr1562 with RNA. The secondary structure of both these forms was largely similar, resembling that of a partially folded protein. The dimeric Alr1562 was more prone to temperature-dependent aggregation than the higher oligomeric form. In vitro, the Alr1562 bound more specifically to a minimal CRISPR unit than to the non-specific RNA. Residues required for binding of Alr1562 to RNA, identified by protein modeling-based approaches, were mutated for functional validation. Interestingly, these mutant proteins, showing reduced ability to bind RNA were predominantly present in dimeric form. Alr1562 was detected with specific antiserum in Anabaena, suggesting that the type I-D system is expressed and may be functional in vivo. This is the first report that describes the characterization of a Cas protein from any photosynthetic organism.
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4
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Ge X, Xu J. Macromolecular crowding effects on transcription and translation are regulated by free magnesium ion. Biotechnol Appl Biochem 2019; 67:117-122. [PMID: 31576614 DOI: 10.1002/bab.1827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 09/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Cell-free metabolic engineering is an emerging and promising alternative platform for the production of fuels and chemicals. In recent years, macromolecular crowding effect, which is an important function in living cells but ignored in cell-free systems, has been transferred to cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS). However, inhibitory effects of crowding agents on CFPS were frequently observed, and the mechanism is unclear. In this study, free Mg2+ was found to be a key factor that can regulate the macromolecular crowding effect on in vitro transcription, in vitro translation, and coupled transcript/translation. Addition of crowding agents (20% of Ficoll-70 or Ficoll-400) enhanced in vitro transcription at an index of free Mg2+ concentration (IFMC) below 2 mM but inhibited the transcription when the IFMC was higher than 2 mM. Similarly, Ficoll-400 enhanced in vitro translation and coupled transcription/translation at a lower IFMC (0.1-2 mM) and inhibited the reactions at higher IFMC (>2 mM). Based on the results, CFPS systems could be further optimized by adjusting the content of crowding agents and the IFMC. Besides, the results also indicate that macromolecular crowding effect is important for maintaining the efficiency of in vivo transcription and translation which occur at a low intracellular IFMC (<1 mM).
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Affiliation(s)
- Xumeng Ge
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute and College of Agriculture and Technology, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA.,Quasar Energy Group, Independence, OH, USA
| | - Jianfeng Xu
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute and College of Agriculture and Technology, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, USA
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5
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Localization-specific distributions of protein pI in human proteome are governed by local pH and membrane charge. BMC Mol Cell Biol 2019; 20:36. [PMID: 31429701 PMCID: PMC6701068 DOI: 10.1186/s12860-019-0221-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2019] [Accepted: 08/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Whole-proteome distributions of protein isoelectric point (pI) values in different organisms are bi- or trimodal with some variations. It was suggested that the observed multimodality of the proteome-wide pI distributions is associated with subcellular localization-specific differences in the local pI distributions. However, the factors responsible for variation of the intracellular localization-specific pI profiles have not been investigated in detail. Results In this work, we explored proteome-wide pI distributions of 32,138 human proteins predicted to reside in 10 subcellular compartments, as well as the pI distributions of experimentally observed lysosomal and Golgi proteins. The distributions were found to differ significantly, although all of them adhered to the major recurrent bimodal pattern. Grossly, acid-biased and alkaline-biased patterns with various minor statistical features were observed at different subcellular locations. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the existence of strong statistically significant correlations between protein pI and subcellular localization. Most markedly, protein pI was found to correlate positively with nuclear and mitochondrial locations and negatively with cytoskeletal, cytoplasmic, lysosomal and peroxisomal environment. Further analysis demonstrated that subcellular compartment-specific pI distributions are greatly influenced by local pH and organelle membrane charge. Multiple nonlinear regression analysis identified a polynomial function of the two variables that best fitted the mean pI values of the localization-specific pI distributions. A high coefficient of determination calculated for this regression (R2 = 0.98) suggests that local pH and organelle membrane charge are the major factors responsible for variation of the intracellular localization-specific pI profiles. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that strong correlations exist between protein pI and subcellular localization. The specific pI distributions at different subcellular locations are defined by local environment. Predominantly, it is the local pH and membrane charge that shape the organelle-specific protein pI patterns. These findings expand our understanding of spatial organization of the human proteome. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12860-019-0221-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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6
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Graether SP. Troubleshooting Guide to Expressing Intrinsically Disordered Proteins for Use in NMR Experiments. Front Mol Biosci 2019; 5:118. [PMID: 30713842 PMCID: PMC6345686 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2018.00118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2018] [Accepted: 12/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) represent a structural class of proteins that do not have a well-defined, 3D fold in solution, and often have little secondary structure. To characterize their function and molecular mechanism, it is helpful to examine their structure using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which can report on properties, such as residual structure (at both the secondary and tertiary levels), ligand binding affinity, and the effect of ligand binding on IDP structure, all on a per residue basis. This brief review reports on the common problems and decisions that are involved when preparing a disordered protein for NMR studies. The paper covers gene design, expression host choice, protein purification, and the initial NMR experiments that are performed. While many of these steps are essentially identical to those for ordered proteins, a few key differences are highlighted, including the extreme sensitivity of IDPs to proteolytic cleavage, the ability to use denaturing conditions without having to refold the protein, the optimal chromatographic system choice, and the challenges of quantifying an IDP. After successful purification, characterization by NMR can be done using the standard 15N-heteronuclear single quantum coherence (15N-HSQC) experiment, or the newer CON series of experiments that are superior for disordered proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steffen P Graether
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
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7
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Tokmakov AA, Kurotani A, Ikeda M, Terazawa Y, Shirouzu M, Stefanov V, Sakurai T, Yokoyama S. Content of intrinsic disorder influences the outcome of cell-free protein synthesis. Sci Rep 2015; 5:14079. [PMID: 26359642 PMCID: PMC4566126 DOI: 10.1038/srep14079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2015] [Accepted: 08/14/2015] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Cell-free protein synthesis is used to produce proteins with various structural traits. Recent bioinformatics analyses indicate that more than half of eukaryotic proteins possess long intrinsically disordered regions. However, no systematic study concerning the connection between intrinsic disorder and expression success of cell-free protein synthesis has been presented until now. To address this issue, we examined correlations of the experimentally observed cell-free protein expression yields with the contents of intrinsic disorder bioinformatically predicted in the expressed sequences. This analysis revealed strong relationships between intrinsic disorder and protein amenability to heterologous cell-free expression. On the one hand, elevated disorder content was associated with the increased ratio of soluble expression. On the other hand, overall propensity for detectable protein expression decreased with disorder content. We further demonstrated that these tendencies are rooted in some distinct features of intrinsically disordered regions, such as low hydrophobicity, elevated surface accessibility and high abundance of sequence motifs for proteolytic degradation, including sites of ubiquitination and PEST sequences. Our findings suggest that identification of intrinsically disordered regions in the expressed amino acid sequences can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing cell-free protein synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander A Tokmakov
- Research Center for Environmental Genomics, Kobe University, Nada 657-8501, Japan.,RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Atsushi Kurotani
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Mariko Ikeda
- RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.,RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Yumiko Terazawa
- RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Mikako Shirouzu
- RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.,RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Vasily Stefanov
- Department of Biochemistry, Saint-Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
| | - Tetsuya Sakurai
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
| | - Shigeyuki Yokoyama
- RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.,RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan
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8
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Berlow RB, Dyson HJ, Wright PE. Functional advantages of dynamic protein disorder. FEBS Lett 2015; 589:2433-40. [PMID: 26073260 DOI: 10.1016/j.febslet.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 134] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2015] [Revised: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Intrinsically disordered proteins participate in many important cellular regulatory processes. The absence of a well-defined structure in the free state of a disordered domain, and even on occasion when it is bound to physiological partners, is fundamental to its function. Disordered domains are frequently the location of multiple sites for post-translational modification, the key element of metabolic control in the cell. When a disordered domain folds upon binding to a partner, the resulting complex buries a far greater surface area than in an interaction of comparably-sized folded proteins, thus maximizing specificity at modest protein size. Disorder also maintains accessibility of sites for post-translational modification. Because of their inherent plasticity, disordered domains frequently adopt entirely different structures when bound to different partners, increasing the repertoire of available interactions without the necessity for expression of many different proteins. This feature also adds to the faithfulness of cellular regulation, as the availability of a given disordered domain depends on competition between various partners relevant to different cellular processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca B Berlow
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - H Jane Dyson
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Peter E Wright
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
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9
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Kurotani A, Yamada Y, Shinozaki K, Kuroda Y, Sakurai T. Plant-PrAS: a database of physicochemical and structural properties and novel functional regions in plant proteomes. PLANT & CELL PHYSIOLOGY 2015; 56:e11. [PMID: 25435546 PMCID: PMC4301743 DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcu176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2014] [Accepted: 10/31/2014] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Arabidopsis thaliana is an important model species for studies of plant gene functions. Research on Arabidopsis has resulted in the generation of high-quality genome sequences, annotations and related post-genomic studies. The amount of annotation, such as gene-coding regions and structures, is steadily growing in the field of plant research. In contrast to the genomics resource of animals and microorganisms, there are still some difficulties with characterization of some gene functions in plant genomics studies. The acquisition of information on protein structure can help elucidate the corresponding gene function because proteins encoded in the genome possess highly specific structures and functions. In this study, we calculated multiple physicochemical and secondary structural parameters of protein sequences, including length, hydrophobicity, the amount of secondary structure, the number of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) and the predicted presence of transmembrane helices and signal peptides, using a total of 208,333 protein sequences from the genomes of six representative plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, Glycine max (soybean), Populus trichocarpa (poplar), Oryza sativa (rice), Physcomitrella patens (moss) and Cyanidioschyzon merolae (alga). Using the PASS tool and the Rosetta Stone method, we annotated the presence of novel functional regions in 1,732 protein sequences that included unannotated sequences from the Arabidopsis and rice proteomes. These results were organized into the Plant Protein Annotation Suite database (Plant-PrAS), which can be freely accessed online at http://plant-pras.riken.jp/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Kurotani
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045 Japan Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, Faculty of Technology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588 Japan
| | - Yutaka Yamada
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045 Japan
| | - Kazuo Shinozaki
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045 Japan
| | - Yutaka Kuroda
- Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, Faculty of Technology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588 Japan
| | - Tetsuya Sakurai
- RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045 Japan
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10
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van der Lee R, Buljan M, Lang B, Weatheritt RJ, Daughdrill GW, Dunker AK, Fuxreiter M, Gough J, Gsponer J, Jones D, Kim PM, Kriwacki R, Oldfield CJ, Pappu RV, Tompa P, Uversky VN, Wright P, Babu MM. Classification of intrinsically disordered regions and proteins. Chem Rev 2014; 114:6589-631. [PMID: 24773235 PMCID: PMC4095912 DOI: 10.1021/cr400525m] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1391] [Impact Index Per Article: 139.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robin van der Lee
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
- Centre
for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, Radboud University Medical Centre, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The
Netherlands
| | - Marija Buljan
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Benjamin Lang
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Robert J. Weatheritt
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Gary W. Daughdrill
- Department
of Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology, University of South Florida, 3720 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 321, Tampa, Florida 33612, United States
| | - A. Keith Dunker
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana
University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
| | - Monika Fuxreiter
- MTA-DE
Momentum Laboratory of Protein Dynamics, Department of Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt 98, Hungary
| | - Julian Gough
- Department
of Computer Science, University of Bristol, The Merchant Venturers Building, Bristol BS8 1UB, United Kingdom
| | - Joerg Gsponer
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre for High-Throughput
Biology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - David
T. Jones
- Bioinformatics
Group, Department of Computer Science, University
College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Philip M. Kim
- Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular
Genetics, and Department of Computer Science, University
of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada
| | - Richard
W. Kriwacki
- Department
of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, United States
| | - Christopher J. Oldfield
- Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana
University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, United States
| | - Rohit V. Pappu
- Department
of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Biological Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States
| | - Peter Tompa
- VIB Department
of Structural Biology, Vrije Universiteit
Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Institute
of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Vladimir N. Uversky
- Department
of Molecular Medicine and USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Research
Institute, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33612, United States
- Institute for Biological Instrumentation,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino,
Moscow Region, Russia
| | - Peter
E. Wright
- Department
of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and Skaggs Institute
of Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research
Institute, 10550 North
Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - M. Madan Babu
- MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
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11
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Tokmakov AA. Identification of multiple physicochemical and structural properties associated with soluble expression of eukaryotic proteins in cell-free bacterial extracts. Front Microbiol 2014; 5:295. [PMID: 24999341 PMCID: PMC4064534 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2014] [Accepted: 05/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacterial extracts are widely used to synthesize recombinant proteins. Vast data volumes have been accumulated in cell-free expression databases, covering a whole range of existing proteins. It makes possible comprehensive bioinformatics analysis and identification of multiple features associated with protein solubility and aggregation. In the present paper, an approach to identify the multiple physicochemical and structural properties of amino acid sequences associated with soluble expression of eukaryotic proteins in cell-free bacterial extracts is presented. The method includes: (1) categorical assessment of expression data; (2) calculation and prediction of multiple properties of expressed sequences; (3) correlation of the individual properties with the expression scores; and (4) evaluation of statistical significance of the observed correlations. Using this method, a number of significant correlations between calculated and predicted properties of amino acid sequences and their propensity for soluble cell-free expression have been revealed.
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12
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Tokmakov AA, Kurotani A, Shirouzu M, Fukami Y, Yokoyama S. Bioinformatics analysis and optimization of cell-free protein synthesis. Methods Mol Biol 2014; 1118:17-33. [PMID: 24395407 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-62703-782-2_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Cell-free protein synthesis offers substantial advantages over cell-based expression, allowing direct access to the protein synthetic reaction and meticulous control over the reaction conditions. Recently, we identified a number of statistically significant correlations between calculated and predicted properties of amino acid sequences and their amenability to heterologous cell-free expression. These correlations can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing cell-free protein synthesis. In this chapter, we describe our approach and demonstrate how computational and predictive bioinformatics can be used to analyze and optimize cell-free protein expression.
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13
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Singh GP, Dash D. Electrostatic mis-interactions cause overexpression toxicity of proteins in E. coli. PLoS One 2013; 8:e64893. [PMID: 23734225 PMCID: PMC3667126 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2013] [Accepted: 04/19/2013] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
A majority of E. coli proteins when overexpressed inhibit its growth, but the reasons behind overexpression toxicity of proteins remain unknown. Understanding the mechanism of overexpression toxicity is important from evolutionary, biotechnological and possibly clinical perspectives. Here we study sequence and functional features of cytosolic proteins of E. coli associated with overexpression toxicity to understand its mechanism. We find that number of positively charged residues is significantly higher in proteins showing overexpression toxicity. Very long proteins also show high overexpression toxicity. Among the functional classes, transcription factors and regulatory proteins are enriched in toxic proteins, while catalytic proteins are depleted. Overexpression toxicity could be predicted with reasonable accuracy using these few properties. The importance of charged residues in overexpression toxicity indicates that nonspecific electrostatic interactions resulting from protein overexpression cause toxicity of these proteins and suggests ways to improve the expression level of native and foreign proteins in E. coli for basic research and biotechnology. These results might also be applicable to other bacterial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gajinder Pal Singh
- G. N. Ramachandran Knowledge Center for Genome Informatics, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Delhi, India.
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14
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Isaksson L, Mayzel M, Saline M, Pedersen A, Rosenlöw J, Brutscher B, Karlsson BG, Orekhov VY. Highly efficient NMR assignment of intrinsically disordered proteins: application to B- and T cell receptor domains. PLoS One 2013; 8:e62947. [PMID: 23667548 PMCID: PMC3647075 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2013] [Accepted: 03/26/2013] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
We present an integrated approach for efficient characterization of intrinsically disordered proteins. Batch cell-free expression, fast data acquisition, automated analysis, and statistical validation with data resampling have been combined for achieving cost-effective protein expression, and rapid automated backbone assignment. The new methodology is applied for characterization of five cytosolic domains from T- and B-cell receptors in solution.
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MESH Headings
- Amino Acid Motifs
- Cytosol/metabolism
- Humans
- Intracellular Space/metabolism
- Intrinsically Disordered Proteins/chemistry
- Intrinsically Disordered Proteins/metabolism
- Ligands
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular/methods
- Protein Structure, Tertiary
- Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell/chemistry
- Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell/metabolism
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/chemistry
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/metabolism
- Signal Transduction
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Affiliation(s)
- Linnéa Isaksson
- Swedish NMR Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Maxim Mayzel
- Swedish NMR Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Maria Saline
- Swedish NMR Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Anders Pedersen
- Swedish NMR Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Joakim Rosenlöw
- Swedish NMR Centre, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Bernhard Brutscher
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble CEA CNRS, Grenoble, France
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15
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Tokmakov AA, Kurotani A, Takagi T, Toyama M, Shirouzu M, Fukami Y, Yokoyama S. Multiple post-translational modifications affect heterologous protein synthesis. J Biol Chem 2012; 287:27106-16. [PMID: 22674579 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m112.366351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are required for proper folding of many proteins. The low capacity for PTMs hinders the production of heterologous proteins in the widely used prokaryotic systems of protein synthesis. Until now, a systematic and comprehensive study concerning the specific effects of individual PTMs on heterologous protein synthesis has not been presented. To address this issue, we expressed 1488 human proteins and their domains in a bacterial cell-free system, and we examined the correlation of the expression yields with the presence of multiple PTM sites bioinformatically predicted in these proteins. This approach revealed a number of previously unknown statistically significant correlations. Prediction of some PTMs, such as myristoylation, glycosylation, palmitoylation, and disulfide bond formation, was found to significantly worsen protein amenability to soluble expression. The presence of other PTMs, such as aspartyl hydroxylation, C-terminal amidation, and Tyr sulfation, did not correlate with the yield of heterologous protein expression. Surprisingly, the predicted presence of several PTMs, such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and prenylation, was associated with the increased production of properly folded soluble proteins. The plausible rationales for the existence of the observed correlations are presented. Our findings suggest that identification of potential PTMs in polypeptide sequences can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing heterologous protein synthesis. In sum, this study provides the most compelling evidence so far for the role of multiple PTMs in the stability and solubility of heterologously expressed recombinant proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander A Tokmakov
- RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
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Ge X, Luo D, Xu J. Cell-free protein expression under macromolecular crowding conditions. PLoS One 2011; 6:e28707. [PMID: 22174874 PMCID: PMC3234285 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2011] [Accepted: 11/14/2011] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Cell-free protein expression (CFPE) comprised of in vitro transcription and translation is currently manipulated in relatively dilute solutions, in which the macromolecular crowding effects present in living cells are largely ignored. This may not only affect the efficiency of protein synthesis in vitro, but also limit our understanding of the functions and interactions of biomolecules involved in this fundamental biological process. Methodology/Principal Findings Using cell-free synthesis of Renilla luciferase in wheat germ extract as a model system, we investigated the CFPE under macromolecular crowding environments emulated with three different crowding agents: PEG-8000, Ficoll-70 and Ficoll-400, which vary in chemical properties and molecular size. We found that transcription was substantially enhanced in the macromolecular crowding solutions; up to 4-fold increase in the mRNA production was detected in the presence of 20% (w/v) of Ficoll-70. In contrast, translation was generally inhibited by the addition of each of the three crowding agents. This might be due to PEG-induced protein precipitation and non-specific binding of translation factors to Ficoll molecules. We further explored a two-stage CFPE in which transcription and translation was carried out under high then low macromolecular crowding conditions, respectively. It produced 2.2-fold higher protein yield than the coupled CFPE control. The macromolecular crowding effects on CFPE were subsequently confirmed by cell-free synthesis of an approximately two-fold larger protein, Firefly luciferase, under macromolecular crowding environments. Conclusions/Significance Three macromolecular crowding agents used in this research had opposite effects on transcription and translation. The results of this study should aid researchers in their choice of macromolecular crowding agents and shows that two-stage CFPE is more efficient than coupled CFPE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xumeng Ge
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute and College of Agriculture and Technology, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States of America
| | - Dan Luo
- Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Jianfeng Xu
- Arkansas Biosciences Institute and College of Agriculture and Technology, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Maertens B, Spriestersbach A, von Groll U, Roth U, Kubicek J, Gerrits M, Graf M, Liss M, Daubert D, Wagner R, Schäfer F. Gene optimization mechanisms: a multi-gene study reveals a high success rate of full-length human proteins expressed in Escherichia coli. Protein Sci 2010; 19:1312-26. [PMID: 20506237 PMCID: PMC2970903 DOI: 10.1002/pro.408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The genetic code is universal, but recombinant protein expression in heterologous systems is often hampered by divergent codon usage. Here, we demonstrate that reprogramming by standardized multi-parameter gene optimization software and de novo gene synthesis is a suitable general strategy to improve heterologous protein expression. This study compares expression levels of 94 full-length human wt and sequence-optimized genes coding for pharmaceutically important proteins such as kinases and membrane proteins in E. coli. Fluorescence-based quantification revealed increased protein yields for 70% of in vivo expressed optimized genes compared to the wt DNA sequences and also resulted in increased amounts of protein that can be purified. The improvement in transgene expression correlated with higher mRNA levels in our analyzed examples. In all cases tested, expression levels using wt genes in tRNA-supplemented bacterial strains were outperformed by optimized genes expressed in non-supplemented host cells.
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