title: Human hemoglobin expression in Escherichia coli: importance of optimal codon usage.
abstract: The overexpression of a nonfusion product of human beta-globin in Escherichia coli from its cDNA sequence has been accomplished for the first time. Expression of beta-globin from its native cDNA required the use of the strong bacteriophage T7 promoter. In this system, beta-globin accumulated to approximately 10% of total E. coli proteins. alpha-Globin was not expressed in the T7 system using the native cDNA. For the expression of alpha-globin, synthetic genes containing optimal E. coli codons were constructed. Neither synthetic alpha- nor beta-globin gene alone was expressed from the lac or tac promoter. Globin expression was achieved when the two synthetic alpha- and beta-globin genes were combined as an operon downstream of the lac promoter. The two proteins combined intracellularly with endogenous heme, which was concomitantly overproduced to yield tetrameric hemoglobin as roughly 5-10% of total E. coli protein. Cloning the alpha- and beta-globin cDNAs in a construct identical with the lac promoter did not yield globin production, establishing the requirement for optimal codon usage. The recombinant beta-globin from the T7 expression system was purified and reconstituted in vitro with heme and native alpha chains. N-terminal analyses showed that the beta-globin produced in the T7 system and the tetrameric hemoglobin produced from the synthetic genes contained an additional beta 1 methionine residue. Two additional mutants, beta 1 Val----Met and beta 1 Val----Ala were produced using the T7 system. Functional and structural properties of the purified hemoglobins will be discussed in the following papers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign 61801.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hernan
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Andracki
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Noble
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Sligar
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Walder
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Walder
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005813:Genes, Synthetic; D005914:Globins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009876:Operon; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D013604:T-Phages / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D006454:Hemoglobins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005914:Globins