Aberrant processing of wild-type and mutant bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor secreted by Aspergillus niger.
Bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) was secreted by Aspergillus niger at yields of up to 23 mg l-1 using a protein fusion strategy. BPTI was linked to part of the fungal glucoamylase protein (GAM) with a dibasic amino acid (KEX2) processing site at the fusion junction. Electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and N-terminal protein sequencing revealed that, although biologically active in vitro, the purified products from a number of independent transformants consisted of a mixture of BPTI molecules differing at the N-terminus. Approximately 35-60% of this mixture was processed correctly. Aberrant processing of the GAM-BPTI fusion protein by the A. niger KEX2-like endoprotease was the most likely cause of this variation although the involvement of other fungal endoproteases could not be ruled out. In vitro studies have highlighted a weak interaction between BPTI and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae KEX2 endoprotease, suggesting that BPTI is not a potent inhibitor of KEX2p. A small proportion of the recombinant BPTI (10%) showed 'nicking' of the K15-A16 bond, indicating an interaction with a fungal trypsin-like enzyme. Mutant BPTI homologues designed to have anti-elastase activity, BPTI(K15V), BPTI(K15V,P13I) and BPTI(K15V,G12A), have also been expressed and secreted by A. niger. They also showed a similar spectrum of aberrant N-terminal processing but no 'nicking' of the K15-V16 bond was observed. Comparison of A. niger with other expression systems showed that it is an effective system for producing BPTI and its homologues, although not all molecules were correctly processed. This variation in processing efficiency may be useful in understanding the important determinants of protein processing in this fungus.
Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, UK.
D A
DA
MacKenzie
J A
JA
Kraunsoe
J A
JA
Chesshyre
G
G
Lowe
T
T
Komiyama
R S
RS
Fuller
D B
DB
Archer
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D007611:Aprotinin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D001709:Biotechnology; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D043484:Proprotein Convertases; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D013381:Subtilisins / Q000378:metabolism; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
D017931:DNA Primers; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D007611:Aprotinin; D043484:Proprotein Convertases; D013381:Subtilisins; C058751:KEX2 protein, S cerevisiae