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Rivera-de-Torre E, Rimbault C, Jenkins TP, Sørensen CV, Damsbo A, Saez NJ, Duhoo Y, Hackney CM, Ellgaard L, Laustsen AH. Strategies for Heterologous Expression, Synthesis, and Purification of Animal Venom Toxins. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 9:811905. [PMID: 35127675 PMCID: PMC8811309 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.811905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal venoms are complex mixtures containing peptides and proteins known as toxins, which are responsible for the deleterious effect of envenomations. Across the animal Kingdom, toxin diversity is enormous, and the ability to understand the biochemical mechanisms governing toxicity is not only relevant for the development of better envenomation therapies, but also for exploiting toxin bioactivities for therapeutic or biotechnological purposes. Most of toxinology research has relied on obtaining the toxins from crude venoms; however, some toxins are difficult to obtain because the venomous animal is endangered, does not thrive in captivity, produces only a small amount of venom, is difficult to milk, or only produces low amounts of the toxin of interest. Heterologous expression of toxins enables the production of sufficient amounts to unlock the biotechnological potential of these bioactive proteins. Moreover, heterologous expression ensures homogeneity, avoids cross-contamination with other venom components, and circumvents the use of crude venom. Heterologous expression is also not only restricted to natural toxins, but allows for the design of toxins with special properties or can take advantage of the increasing amount of transcriptomics and genomics data, enabling the expression of dormant toxin genes. The main challenge when producing toxins is obtaining properly folded proteins with a correct disulfide pattern that ensures the activity of the toxin of interest. This review presents the strategies that can be used to express toxins in bacteria, yeast, insect cells, or mammalian cells, as well as synthetic approaches that do not involve cells, such as cell-free biosynthesis and peptide synthesis. This is accompanied by an overview of the main advantages and drawbacks of these different systems for producing toxins, as well as a discussion of the biosafety considerations that need to be made when working with highly bioactive proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esperanza Rivera-de-Torre
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Esperanza Rivera-de-Torre, ; Andreas H. Laustsen,
| | - Charlotte Rimbault
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Timothy P. Jenkins
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Christoffer V. Sørensen
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Anna Damsbo
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Natalie J. Saez
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia
| | - Yoan Duhoo
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia
| | - Celeste Menuet Hackney
- Department of Biology, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lars Ellgaard
- Department of Biology, Linderstrøm-Lang Centre for Protein Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Andreas H. Laustsen
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Esperanza Rivera-de-Torre, ; Andreas H. Laustsen,
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Synthesis, Structural and Pharmacological Characterizations of CIC, a Novel α-Conotoxin with an Extended N-Terminal Tail. Mar Drugs 2021; 19:md19030141. [PMID: 33801301 PMCID: PMC8001506 DOI: 10.3390/md19030141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Cone snails are venomous marine predators that rely on fast-acting venom to subdue their prey and defend against aggressors. The conotoxins produced in the venom gland are small disulfide-rich peptides with high affinity and selectivity for their pharmacological targets. A dominant group comprises α-conotoxins, targeting nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Here, we report on the synthesis, structure determination and biological activity of a novel α-conotoxin, CIC, found in the predatory venom of the piscivorous species Conus catus and its truncated mutant Δ-CIC. CIC is a 4/7 α-conotoxin with an unusual extended N-terminal tail. High-resolution NMR spectroscopy shows a major influence of the N-terminal tail on the apparent rigidity of the three-dimensional structure of CIC compared to the more flexible Δ-CIC. Surprisingly, this effect on the structure does not alter the biological activity, since both peptides selectively inhibit α3β2 and α6/α3β2β3 nAChRs with almost identical sub- to low micromolar inhibition constants. Our results suggest that the N-terminal part of α-conotoxins can accommodate chemical modifications without affecting their pharmacology.
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Yeast-based bioproduction of disulfide-rich peptides and their cyclization via asparaginyl endopeptidases. Nat Protoc 2021; 16:1740-1760. [PMID: 33597770 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-020-00483-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Cyclic disulfide-rich peptides have attracted significant interest in drug development and biotechnology. Here, we describe a protocol for producing cyclic peptide precursors in Pichia pastoris that undergo in vitro enzymatic maturation into cyclic peptides using recombinant asparaginyl endopeptidases (AEPs). Peptide precursors are expressed with a C-terminal His tag and secreted into the media, enabling facile purification by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. After AEP-mediated cyclization, cyclic peptides are purified by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and characterized by mass spectrometry, peptide mass fingerprinting, NMR spectroscopy, and activity assays. We demonstrate the broad applicability of this protocol by generating cyclic peptides from three distinct classes that are either naturally occurring or synthetically backbone cyclized, and range in size from 14 amino acids with one disulfide bond, to 34 amino acids with a cystine knot comprising three disulfide bonds. The protocol requires 14 d to identify and optimize a high-expressing Pichia clone in small-scale cultures (24 well plates or 50 mL tubes), after which large-scale production in a bioreactor and peptide purification can be completed in 10 d. We use the cyclotide Momordica cochinchinensis trypsin inhibitor II as an example. We also include a protocol for recombinant AEP production in Escherichia coli as AEPs are emerging tools for orthogonal peptide and protein ligation. We focus on two AEPs that preferentially cyclize different peptide precursors, namely an engineered AEP with improved catalytic efficiency [C247A]OaAEP1b and the plant-derived MCoAEP2. Rudimentary proficiency and equipment in molecular biology, protein biochemistry and analytical chemistry are needed.
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α-Conotoxin as Potential to α7-nAChR Recombinant Expressed in Escherichia coli. Mar Drugs 2020; 18:md18080422. [PMID: 32806654 PMCID: PMC7460214 DOI: 10.3390/md18080422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Revised: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) is an important nicotinic acetylcholine receptors subtype and closely associated with cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia disease. The mutant ArIB (V11L, V16A) of α-conotoxin ArIB with 17-amino acid residues specifically targets α7 nAChR with no obvious effect on other nAChR subtypes. In the study, the synthetic gene encoding mature peptide of ArIB and mutant ArIB (V11L, V16A) carried a fusion protein Trx and 6 × His-tag was separately inserted in pET-32a (+) vector and transformed into Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3) pLysS for expression. The expressions of Trx-ArIB-His6 and Trx-ArIB (V11L, V16A)-His6 were soluble in Escherichia coli, which were purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography column and cleaved by enterokinase to release rArIB and rArIB (V11L, V16A). Then, rArIB and rArIB (V11L, V16A) were purified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Bioactivity of rArIB and rArIB (V11L, V16A) was assessed by two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology in Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing human nAChR subtypes. The results indicated that the yield of the fusion proteins was approximately 50 mg/L and rArIB (V11L, V16A) antagonized the α7 nAChR subtype selectively with 8-nM IC50. In summary, this study provides an efficient method to biosynthesize α-conotoxin ArIB and rArIB (V11L, V16A) in Escherichia coli, which could be economical to obtain massively bioactive disulfide-rich polypeptides at fast speed.
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Wilson DT, Bansal PS, Carter DA, Vetter I, Nicke A, Dutertre S, Daly NL. Characterisation of a Novel A-Superfamily Conotoxin. Biomedicines 2020; 8:biomedicines8050128. [PMID: 32443665 PMCID: PMC7277881 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines8050128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Revised: 05/15/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Conopeptides belonging to the A-superfamily from the venomous molluscs, Conus, are typically α-conotoxins. The α-conotoxins are of interest as therapeutic leads and pharmacological tools due to their selectivity and potency at nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes. Structurally, the α-conotoxins have a consensus fold containing two conserved disulfide bonds that define the two-loop framework and brace a helical region. Here we report on a novel α-conotoxin Pl168, identified from the transcriptome of Conus planorbis, which has an unusual 4/8 loop framework. Unexpectedly, NMR determination of its three-dimensional structure reveals a new structural type of A-superfamily conotoxins with a different disulfide-stabilized fold, despite containing the conserved cysteine framework and disulfide connectivity of classical α-conotoxins. The peptide did not demonstrate activity on a range of nAChRs, or Ca2+ and Na+ channels suggesting that it might represent a new pharmacological class of conotoxins.
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Affiliation(s)
- David T. Wilson
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD 4878, Australia; (D.T.W.); (P.S.B.)
| | - Paramjit S. Bansal
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD 4878, Australia; (D.T.W.); (P.S.B.)
| | - David A. Carter
- Centre for Pain Research, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; (D.A.C.); (I.V.)
| | - Irina Vetter
- Centre for Pain Research, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; (D.A.C.); (I.V.)
- School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia
| | - Annette Nicke
- Walther Straub Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, Nußbaumstraße 26, 80336 Munich, Germany;
| | - Sébastien Dutertre
- Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron, UMR 5247, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, 34095 Montpellier, France;
| | - Norelle L. Daly
- Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD 4878, Australia; (D.T.W.); (P.S.B.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +61-7-4232-1815
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Peigneur S, Devi P, Seldeslachts A, Ravichandran S, Quinton L, Tytgat J. Structure-Function Elucidation of a New α-Conotoxin, MilIA, from Conus milneedwardsi. Mar Drugs 2019; 17:md17090535. [PMID: 31527432 PMCID: PMC6780063 DOI: 10.3390/md17090535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2019] [Revised: 09/05/2019] [Accepted: 09/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The a-Conotoxins are peptide toxins that are found in the venom of marine cone snails and they are potent antagonists of various subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Because nAChRs have an important role in regulating transmitter release, cell excitability, and neuronal integration, nAChR dysfunctions have been implicated in a variety of severe pathologies. We describe the isolation and characterization of α-conotoxin MilIA, the first conopeptide from the venom of Conus milneedwardsi. The peptide was characterized by electrophysiological screening against several types of cloned nAChRs that were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. MilIA, which is a member of the α3/5 family, is an antagonist of muscle type nAChRs with a high selectivity for muscle versus neuronal subtype nAChRs. Several analogues were designed and investigated for their activity in order to determine the key epitopes of MilIA. Native MilIA and analogues both showed activity at the fetal muscle type nAChR. Two single mutations (Met9 and Asn10) allowed for MilIA to strongly discriminate between the two types of muscle nAChRs. Moreover, one analogue, MilIA [∆1,M2R, M9G, N10K, H11K], displayed a remarkable enhanced potency when compared to native peptide. The key residues that are responsible for switching between muscle and neuronal nAChRs preference were elucidated. Interestingly, the same analogue showed a preference for α9α10 nAChRs among the neuronal types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steve Peigneur
- Toxicology and Pharmacology, KU Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, O & N2, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 922, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Prabha Devi
- Toxicology and Pharmacology, KU Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, O & N2, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 922, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
- CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India.
| | - Andrea Seldeslachts
- Toxicology and Pharmacology, KU Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, O & N2, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 922, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | | | - Loïc Quinton
- Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry, Department of Chemistry, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
| | - Jan Tytgat
- Toxicology and Pharmacology, KU Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, O & N2, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 922, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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