title: Exploitation of GFP fusion proteins and stress avoidance as a generic strategy for the production of high-quality recombinant proteins.
abstract: A C-terminal green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion to a model target protein, Escherichia coli CheY, was exploited both as a reporter of the accumulation of soluble recombinant protein, and to develop a generic approach to optimize protein yields. The rapid accumulation of CheY∷GFP expressed from a pET20 vector under the control of an isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactoside (IPTG)-inducible T7 RNA polymerase resulted not only in the well-documented growth arrest but also loss of culturability and overgrowth of the productive population using plasmid-deficient bacteria. The highest yields of soluble CheY∷GFP as judged from the fluorescence levels were achieved using very low concentrations of IPTG, which avoid growth arrest and loss of culturability postinduction. Optimal product yields were obtained with 8 μM IPTG, a concentration so low that insufficient T7 RNA polymerase accumulated to be detectable by Western blot analysis. The improved protocol was shown to be suitable for process scale-up and intensification. It is also applicable to the accumulation of an untagged heterologous protein, cytochrome c(2) from Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which requires both secretion and extensive post-translational modification.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Yanina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sevastsyanovich
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfasi
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Overton
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hewitt
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D015870:Gene Expression; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000072236:Methyl-Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D000072236:Methyl-Accepting Chemotaxis Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C000607606:cheY protein, E coli; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins