Ultrafast protein splicing is common among cyanobacterial split inteins: implications for protein engineering.
We describe the first systematic study of a family of inteins, the split DnaE inteins from cyanobacteria. By measuring in vivo splicing efficiencies and in vitro kinetics, we demonstrate that several inteins can catalyze protein trans-splicing in tens of seconds rather than hours, as is commonly observed for this autoprocessing protein family. Furthermore, we show that when artificially fused, these inteins can be used for rapid generation of protein α-thioesters for expressed protein ligation. This comprehensive survey of split inteins provides indispensable information for the development and improvement of intein-based tools for chemical biology.
Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, 325 Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Neel H
NH
Shah
Geoffrey P
GP
Dann
Miquel
M
Vila-Perelló
Zhihua
Z
Liu
Tom W
TW
Muir
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D047668:Inteins; D015202:Protein Engineering; D019154:Protein Splicing; D013996:Time and Motion Studies
D001426:Bacterial Proteins