• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.375-381
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• 2010

In this study, the cDNA library of Chang-liver cells was immunoscreened using common ADAMs antibody to obtain ADAM related genes. We found one positive clone that was confirmed as a new gene by Blast, which is an uncharacterized helical and coil protein and processes protease activity, and named protease-related protein 1 (ARP1). The submitted GenBank accession number is AY078070. Molecular characterizations of ARP1 were analyzed with appropriate bioinformatics software. To analyse its expression and function, ARP1 was subcloned into glutathione S-transferase fusion plasmid pGEX-2T and expressed by E. coli system. The in vitro expression product of ARP1 was recognized by common ADAMs antibody with western blot. Interestingly, ARP1 cleaves gelatine at pH9.5, which suggests it is an alkaline protease. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR result indicates that ARP1 mRNA is strongly transcribed in the liver and the treated Chang-liver cells.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.574-580
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• 2007

Full-length chloride intracellular channel protein 1 (CLIC1) is a member of the family of proteins related to bovine chloride intracellular channel p64. Mutations in the SEDL gene cause spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia tarda (SEDT), a rare X-linked chondrodysplasia. The link between the intracellular chloride channels and SEDL is an important step toward understanding their functional interplay. In the present study, CLIC1 protein was subcloned into the pGEX-KG vector and overexpressed in XL-1 blue cells. We developed a large-scale expression system composed of glutathione S-transferase (GST) fused with a 240-amino-acid CLIC1 protein in Escherichia coli. The soluble CLIC1 protein was successfully purified to homogeneity, and its purity, identity, activity and conformation were determined using SDS-PAGE, MALDI-MS, biophotometer and circular dichroism spectroscopic studies. The binding of both CLIC1 and SEDL proteins in vitro was detected by BIAcore biosensor and fluorescence measurements.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.903-912
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• 2016

Hagfish which belongs to the chordate contact cyclostomata, is important phylogenetic relationship between vertebrate and invertebrate. Cathepsins of the cysteine protease family have traditionally been thought to play a major role in intracellular protein degradation and turnover in lysosomes. In this study, Catepsin L was cloned from Inshore hagfish (Eptatretus burgeri), the cDNA encoding ORF of the Eptatretus burgeri Cathepsin L (EbCtL) is 978 bp. The cDNA encoding proEbCtL was expressed in Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3) using the pGEX-4T-1 expression vector system. The recombinant proEbCtL protein was overexpressed as a approximately 55 kDa fusion protein. The overproduced soluble GST-fusion protein was then applied to glutathione-Sepharose 4B column chromatography; the sample harboring the fusion protein evidenced a high degree of purity when analyzed via SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Its activity was quantied by cleaving the synthetic peptide Z-FR-AMC, Z-LLE-AMC, and Suc-AAF-AMC, and the optimal pH for the protease activity was 8, 9.5, and 9, respectively.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.225-231
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• 2005

Acid-labile subunit (ALS) is a component of the 150-kDa insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) complex, which, by sequestering the majority of IGFs-I and -II and thereby prolonging the half-life of them in plasma, serves as a circulating reservoir of IGFs in mammalian species. A pGEX-2T plasmid and a baculovirus expression constructs harboring a coding sequence for glutathione-S transferase (GST)-porcine ALS (pALS) fusion protein were expressed in BL21(DE3) E. coli and Sf9 insect cells, respectively. The expressed protein was purified by glutathione or Ni-NTN affinity chromatography, followed by cleavage of the fusion protein using Factor Xa. In addition, pALS and hIGFBP-3 were also produced in small amounts in the Xenopus oocyte expression system which does not require any purification procedure. A 65-kDa pALS polypeptide was obtained following the prokaryotic expression and the enzymatic digestion, but biochemical characterization of this polypeptide was precluded because of an extremely low expression efficiency. The baculovirus-as well as Xenopus-expressed pALS exhibited the expected molecular mass of 85 kDa which was reduced into 75 and 65 kDa following deglycosylation of Asn-linked carbohydrates by Endo-F glycosidase, indicating that the expressed pALS was properly glycosylated. Moreover, irrespective of the source of pALS, the recombinant pALS and hIGFBP-3 formed a 130-kDa binary complex which could be immunoprecipitated by anti-hIGFBP-3 antibodies. Collectively, results indicate that an authentic pALS protein can be produced by the current expression systems.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2011

Insect lysozymes are basic, cationic proteins synthesized in fat body and hemocytes in response to bacterial infections and depolymerize the bacterial cell wall. The c-type lysozyme of the insect Spodoptera litura (SLLyz) is a single polypeptide chain of 121 residues with four disulfide bridges and 17 rare codons and is approximately 15 kDa. The full-length SLLyz cDNA is 1039 bp long with a poly(A) tail, and contains an open reading frame of 426 bp long (including the termination codon), flanked by a 54 bp long 5' UTR and a 559 bp long 3' UTR. As a host for the production of high-level recombinant proteins, E. coli is used most commonly because of its low cost and short generation time. However, the soluble expression of heterologous proteins in E. coli is not trivial, especially for disulfide-bonded proteins. In order to prevent inclusion body formation, GST was selected as a fusion partner to enhance the solubility of recombinant protein, and fused to the amplified products encoding mature SLLyz. The expression vector pGEX-4T-1/rSLLyz was then transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3)pLysS for soluble expression of rSLLyz, and the soluble fusion protein was purified successfully. Inhibition zone assay demonstrated that rSLLyz showed antibacterial activity against B. megaterium. These results demonstrate that the GST fusion expression system in E. coli described in this study is efficient and inexpensive in producing a disulfide-bonded rSLLyz in soluble, active form, and suggest that the insect lysozyme is an interesting system for future structural and functional studies.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.331-338
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• 2014

Cystatins (CSTs) are reversible and competitive inhibitors of C1A cysteine proteases, corresponding to papain-like cathepsins in plants and animals. A viral CST (CpBV-CST1) was identified from a polydnavirus, Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV). Our previous study indicated that a transient expression of CpBV-CST1 interfered with immune response and development of Plutella xylostella larvae. To directly demonstrate the protein function, this study produced a recombinant CpBV-CST1 protein (rCpBV-CST1) using bacterial expression system to determine its inhibitory activity against cysteine protease and to assess its physiological alteration in insect immune and development. The open reading frame of CpBV-CST1 encodes a polypeptide of 138 amino acids (${\approx}15kDa$). rCpBV-cystatin protein in BL21 STAR (DE3) competent cells containing a recombinant pGEX4T-3:CpBV-CST1 was over-expressed by 0.5 mM IPTG for 4 h. In biological activity assay, the purified rCpBV-CST1 showed a significant inhibition against papain activity. It inhibited a cellular immune response of hemocyte nodule formation in the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua. Moreover, its oral administration retarded larval development of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that CpBV-CST1 may be applied to control insect pest populations.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1007-1014
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• 2015

Plectasin, the first defensin extracted from a fungus (the saprophytic ascomycete Pseudoplectania nigrella), is attractive as a prospective antimicrobial agent. The purpose of this study was to establish a bacterium-based production system and evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the resulting plectasin. A gene encoding plectasin, with the codon preference of Escherichia coli, was optimized based on its amino acid sequence, synthesized using genesplicing with overlap extension PCR, and inserted into the expression vector pGEX-4T-1. The fusion protein was expressed in the soluble fraction of E. coli and purified using glutathione Stransferase affinity chromatography. Plectasin was cleaved from the fusion protein with thrombin and purified by ultrafiltration. The purified plectasin showed strong, concentrationdependent antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria, especially penicillin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. This antimicrobial activity was equal to chemically synthesized plectasin and was maintained over a wide range of pH and temperatures. This soluble recombinant expression system in E. coli is effective for producing plectasin at a relatively lower cost, and higher purity and efficiency than prior systems, and might provide a foundation for developing a large-scale production system. Overall, plectasin shows potential as a novel, high-performance, and safe antibiotic for the treatment of refractory diseases caused by drug-resistant bacterial strains.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.223-228
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• 2008

A novel beetle antimicrobial protein from stimulated Copris tripartitus and the corresponding gene were isolated in parallel through differential display-PCR and expression in Escherichia coli. To find cDNA clones responsible for bacteria resistance, the suppression subtractive hybridization and GeneFishing differentially expressed genes system were employed in the dung beetle, Copris tripartitus immunized with lipopolysaccaride. One cDNA clone from eight subtracted clones was selected through dot blot analysis and confirmed by northern blot analysis. The 516-bp, selected cDNA clone was determined by 5' and 3' rapid amplication of cDNA ends and cloned into the GST fusion expression vector pGEX-4T-1 for expression of the protein. The expressed protein was predicted 14.7 kDa and inhibited the growth of gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These results implied that the expressed protein is related to immune defense mechanism against microorganism.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1136-1140
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• 2008

The Rhodopseudomonas palustris KUGB306 hemA gene codes for 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) synthase. This enzyme catalyzes the condensation of glycine and succinyl-CoA to yield ALA in the presence of the cofactor pyridoxal 5'-phosphate. The R. palustris KUGB306 hemA gene in the pGEX-KG vector system was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. The effects of physiological factors on the extracellular production of ALA by the recombinant E. coli were studied. Terrific Broth (TB) medium resulted in significantly higher cell growth and ALA production than did Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. ALA production was significantly enhanced by the addition of succinate together with glycine in the medium. Maximal ALA production (2.5 g/l) was observed upon the addition of D-glucose as an ALA dehydratase inhibitor in the late-log culture phase. Based on the results obtained from the shake-flask cultures, fermentation was carried out using the recombinant E. coli in TB medium, with the initial addition of 90 mM glycine and 120 mM succinate, and the addition of 45 mM D-glucose in the late-log phase. The extracellular production of ALA was also influenced by the pH of the culture broth. We maintained a pH of 6.5 in the fermenter throughout the culture process, achieving the maximal levels of extracellular ALA production (5.15 g/l, 39.3 mM).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.318-324
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• 2006

In order to develop an oral vaccine to prevent H. pylori infection, we have expressed the hpaA gene of H. pylori K51 isolated from Korean patients, encoding 29-kDa HpaA that is known to be localized on the cell surface and flagella sheath, in a live delivery vector system, Lactococcus lactis. The hpaA gene, amplified by PCR using the genomic DNA of H. pylori K51, was cloned in the pGEX-2T vector, and the DNA sequence analysis revealed that the hpaA gene of H. pylori K51 had 99.7% and 94.8% identity with individual hpaA genes of the H. pylori 26695 strain (U.K) and the J99 strain (U.S.A). A polyclonal anti-HpaA antibody was raised in rats using GST-HpaA fusion protein as the antigen. The hpaA gene was inserted in an E. coli-L. lactis-shuttle vector (pMG36e) to express in L. lactis. Western blot analysis showed that the expression level of HpaA in the L. lactis transformant remained constant from the exponential phase to the stationary phase, without extracelluar secretion. These results indicate that the HpaA of H. pylori K51 was successfully expressed in L. lactis, and suggest that the recombinant L. lactis expressing HpaA may be applicable as an oral vaccine to induce a protective immune response against H. pylori.