scholarly journals Enhanced Production of Recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Antigens in Escherichia coli by Replacement of Low-Usage Codons

2000 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Lakey ◽  
Rama K. R. Voladri ◽  
Kathryn M. Edwards ◽  
Cynthia Hager ◽  
Buka Samten ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT A major obstacle to development of subunit vaccines and diagnostic reagents for tuberculosis is the inability to produce large quantities of these proteins. To test the hypothesis that poor expression of some mycobacterial genes in Escherichia coli is due, in part, to the presence of low-usage E. coli codons, we used site-directed mutagenesis to convert low-usage codons to high-usage codons for the same amino acid in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genes for antigens 85A and 85B and superoxide dismutase. Replacement of five codons in the wild-type gene for antigen 85B increased recombinant protein production in E. coli 54-fold. The recombinant antigen elicited proliferation and gamma interferon production by lymphocytes from healthy tuberculin reactors and was recognized by monoclonal antibodies to native antigen 85, indicating that the recombinant antigen contained T-cell and B-cell epitopes. Northern blotting demonstrated only a 1.7- to 2.5-fold increase in antigen 85B mRNA, suggesting that the enhanced protein production was due primarily to enhanced efficiency of translation. Codon replacement in the genes encoding antigen 85A and superoxide dismutase yielded four- to sixfold increases in recombinant protein production, suggesting that this strategy may be generally applicable to overexpression of mycobacterial genes in E. coli.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana C. Gomes ◽  
Gabriel A. Monteiro ◽  
Filipe J. Mergulhão

<p><em>Escherichia coli</em> biofilms have a great biotechnological potential since this organism has been one of the preferred hosts for recombinant protein production for the past decades and it has been successfully used in metabolic engineering for the production of high-value compounds.</p> <p>In a previous study, we have demonstrated that the non-induced enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) expression from <em>E. coli</em> biofilm cells was 30-fold higher than in the planktonic state without any optimization of cultivation parameters [1]. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of chemical induction with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) on the expression of eGFP by planktonic and biofilm cells of <em>E. coli</em> JM109(DE3) transformed with a plasmid containing a T7 promoter.</p> <p>It was shown that induction negatively affected the growth and viability of planktonic cultures, and eGFP production did not increase. Recombinant protein production was not limited by gene dosage or by transcriptional activity. Results suggest that plasmid maintenance at high copy number imposes a metabolic burden that precludes high level expression of the recombinant protein. In biofilm cells, the inducer avoided the overall decrease in the amount of expressed eGFP, although this was not correlated with the gene dosage. Higher specific production levels were always attained with biofilm cells and it seems that while induction of biofilm cells shifts their metabolism towards the maintenance of recombinant protein concentration, in planktonic cells the cellular resources are directed towards plasmid replication and growth [2].</p> <p>It is expected that this work will be of great value to elucidate the mechanisms of induction on recombinant protein production, especially in biofilm cells which have shown potential to be used as protein factories.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>References:</p> <p>[1] Gomes, L.C., & Mergulhão, F.J. (2017) Heterologous protein production in <em>Escherichia coli</em> biofilms: A non-conventional form of high cell density cultivation. <em>Process Biochemistry, 57, 1-8</em>. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2017.03.018</p> <p>[2] Gomes, L., Monteiro, G., & Mergulhão, F. (2020). The Impact of IPTG Induction on Plasmid Stability and Heterologous Protein Expression by <em>Escherichia coli</em> Biofilms. <em>International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(2), 576</em>. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21020576</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gema Lozano Terol ◽  
Julia Gallego-Jara ◽  
Rosa Alba Sola Martínez ◽  
Adrián Martínez Vivancos ◽  
Manuel Cánovas Díaz ◽  
...  

Recombinant protein production for medical, academic, or industrial applications is essential for our current life. Recombinant proteins are obtained mainly through microbial fermentation, with Escherichia coli being the host most used. In spite of that, some problems are associated with the production of recombinant proteins in E. coli, such as the formation of inclusion bodies, the metabolic burden, or the inefficient translocation/transport system of expressed proteins. Optimizing transcription of heterologous genes is essential to avoid these drawbacks and develop competitive biotechnological processes. Here, expression of YFP reporter protein is evaluated under the control of four promoters of different strength (PT7lac, Ptrc, Ptac, and PBAD) and two different replication origins (high copy number pMB1′ and low copy number p15A). In addition, the study has been carried out with the E. coli BL21 wt and the ackA mutant strain growing in a rich medium with glucose or glycerol as carbon sources. Results showed that metabolic burden associated with transcription and translation of foreign genes involves a decrease in recombinant protein expression. It is necessary to find a balance between plasmid copy number and promoter strength to maximize soluble recombinant protein expression. The results obtained represent an important advance on the most suitable expression system to improve both the quantity and quality of recombinant proteins in bioproduction engineering.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Schuller ◽  
Monika Cserjan-Puschmann ◽  
Christopher Tauer ◽  
Johanna Jarmer ◽  
Martin Wagenknecht ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The genome-integrated T7 expression system offers significant advantages, in terms of productivity and product quality, even when expressing the gene of interest (GOI) from a single copy of. Compared to plasmid-based expression systems, this system does not incur a plasmid-mediated metabolic load, and it does not vary the dosage of the GOI during the production process. However, long-term production with T7 expression system leads to a rapidly growing non-producing population, because the T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) is prone to mutations. The present study aimed to investigate whether two σ 70 promoters, which were recognized by the Escherichia coli host RNAP, might be suitable in genome-integrated expression systems. We applied a promoter engineering strategy that allowed control of expressing the model protein, GFP, by introducing lac operators ( lacO ) into the constitutive T5 and A1 promoter sequences. Results We showed that, in genome-integrated E. coli expression systems that used σ 70 promoters, the number of lacO sites must be well balanced. Promoters containing three and two lacO sites exhibited low basal expression, but resulted in a complete stop in recombinant protein production in partially induced cultures. In contrast, expression systems regulated by a single lacO site and the lac repressor element, lacI Q , on the same chromosome caused very low basal expression, were highly efficient in recombinant protein production, and enables fine-tuning of gene expression levels on a cellular level. Conclusions Based on our results, we hypothesized that this phenomenon was associated with the autoregulation of the lac repressor protein, LacI. We reasoned that the affinity of LacI for the lacO sites of the GOI must be lower than the affinity of LacI to the lacO sites of the endogenous lac operon; otherwise, LacI autoregulation could not take place, and the lack of LacI autoregulation would lead to a disturbance in lac repressor-mediated regulation of transcription. By exploiting the mechanism of LacI autoregulation, we created a novel E. coli expression system for use in recombinant protein production, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering applications.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Schuller ◽  
Monika Cserjan-Puschmann ◽  
Christopher Tauer ◽  
Johanna Jarmer ◽  
Martin Wagenknecht ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The genome-integrated T7 expression system offers significant advantages, in terms of productivity and product quality, even when expressing the gene of interest (GOI) from a single copy of. Compared to plasmid-based expression systems, this system does not incur a plasmid-mediated metabolic load, and it does not vary the dosage of the GOI during the production process. However, long-term production with T7 expression system leads to a rapidly growing non-producing population, because the T7 RNA polymerase (RNAP) is prone to mutations. The present study aimed to investigate whether two σ 70 promoters, which were recognized by the Escherichia coli host RNAP, might be suitable in genome-integrated expression systems. We applied a promoter engineering strategy that allowed control of expressing the model protein, GFP, by introducing lac operators ( lacO ) into the constitutive T5 and A1 promoter sequences.Results We showed that, in genome-integrated E. coli expression systems that used σ 70 promoters, the number of lacO sites must be well balanced. Promoters containing three and two lacO sites exhibited low basal expression, but resulted in a complete stop in recombinant protein production in partially induced cultures. In contrast, expression systems regulated by a single lacO site and the lac repressor element, lacI Q , on the same chromosome caused very low basal expression, were highly efficient in recombinant protein production, and enables fine-tuning of gene expression levels on a cellular level.Conclusions Based on our results, we hypothesized that this phenomenon was associated with the autoregulation of the lac repressor protein, LacI. We reasoned that the affinity of LacI for the lacO sites of the GOI must be lower than the affinity of LacI to the lacO sites of the endogenous lac operon; otherwise, LacI autoregulation could not take place, and the lack of LacI autoregulation would lead to a disturbance in lac repressor-mediated regulation of transcription. By exploiting the mechanism of LacI autoregulation, we created a novel E. coli expression system for use in recombinant protein production, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Lipničanová ◽  
Daniela Chmelová ◽  
Andrej Godány ◽  
Miroslav Ondrejovič

Abstract Recombinant protein production in heterologous hosts often seems a simpler and more effective way than its production by natural producer. The secretion of recombinant protein in Escherichia coli has many advantages comparing to than in insect or mammalian cells. The important factor for high-level recombinant protein production is the sufficient amount of E. coli biomass. Therefore, the aim of this study was to optimize the composition of propagation medium resulting in the maximum biomass yield of recombinant E. coli as the part of fermentation strategy for neuraminidase (NA) production. Three independent variables including glucose, asparagine and phosphate concentrations, and four dependent variables, such as biomass yield, residual concentrations of glucose or asparagine and pH of the propagation medium after fermentation, were chosen to the optimization by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimal conditions for the maximum biomass yield expressed as dry cell weight (DCW) (16.57±0.55 g DCW.L−1) were as follows: glucose concentration of 39.37 mM, asparagine concentration of 62.68 mM and phosphate concentration of 14.80 mM. For this model, the predicted values for the responses are close to the experimental values. The yield of desired pET15b-neu plasmid from E. coli cells cultivated in optimized propagation medium was almost 23 % higher than in commonly used Luria-Bertani (LB) medium suggesting that asparagine may be involved in the induction of plasmid amplification.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Weber ◽  
Zhaopeng Li ◽  
Ursula Rinas

Abstract Background Recently it was shown that production of recombinant proteins in E. coli BL21(DE3) using pET based expression vectors leads to metabolic stress comparable to a carbon overfeeding response. Opposite to original expectations generation of energy as well as catabolic provision of precursor metabolites were excluded as limiting factors for growth and protein production. On the contrary, accumulation of ATP and precursor metabolites revealed their ample formation but insufficient withdrawal as a result of protein production mediated constraints in anabolic pathways. Thus, not limitation but excess of energy and precursor metabolites were identified as being connected to the protein production associated metabolic burden. Results Here we show that the protein production associated accumulation of energy and catabolic precursor metabolites is not unique to E. coli BL21(DE3) but also occurs in E. coli K12. Most notably, it was demonstrated that the IPTG-induced production of hFGF-2 using a tac-promoter based expression vector in the E. coli K12 strain TG1 was leading to persistent accumulation of key regulatory molecules such as ATP, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and pyruvate. Conclusions Excessive energy generation, respectively, accumulation of ATP during recombinant protein production is not unique to the BL21(DE3)/T7 promoter based expression system but also observed in the E. coli K12 strain TG1 using another promoter/vector combination. These findings confirm that energy is not a limiting factor for recombinant protein production. Moreover, the data also show that an accelerated glycolytic pathway flux aggravates the protein production associated “metabolic burden”. Under conditions of compromised anabolic capacities cells are not able to reorganize their metabolic enzyme repertoire as required for reduced carbon processing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 891-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Schlegel ◽  
Pierre Genevaux ◽  
Jan-Willem de Gier

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