Affinity Tag (affinity + tag)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Chemistry


Selected Abstracts


Design of Affinity Tags for One-Step Protein Purification from Immobilized Zinc Columns

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 1 2000
Richard S. Pasquinelli
Affinity tags are often used to accomplish recombinant protein purification using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Success of the tag depends on the chelated metal used and the elution profile of the host cell proteins. Zn(II)-iminodiacetic acid (Zn(II)-IDA) may prove to be superior to either immobilized copper or nickel as a result of its relatively low binding affinity for cellular proteins. For example, almost all Escherichiacoli proteins elute from Zn(II)-IDA columns between pH 7.5 and 7.0 with very little cellular protein emerging at pH values lower than 7.0. Thus, a large portion of the Zn(II)-IDA elution profile may be free of contaminant proteins, which can be exploited for one-step purification of a target protein from raw cell extract. In this paper we have identified several fusion tags that can direct the elution of the target protein to the low background region of the Zn(II)-IDA elution profile. These tags allow targeting of proteins to different regions of the elution profile, facilitating purification under mild conditions. [source]


Optimization of the Azobenzene Scaffold for Reductive Cleavage by Dithionite; Development of an Azobenzene Cleavable Linker for Proteomic Applications

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Issue 23 2010
Geoffray Leriche
Abstract In this paper we conducted an extensive reactivity study to determine the key structural features that favour the dithionite-triggered reductive cleavage of the azo,arene group. Our stepwise investigation allowed identification of a highly reactive azo,arene structure 25 bearing a carboxylic acid at the ortho position of the electron-poor arene and an ortho - O -alkyl-resorcinol as the electron-rich arene. Based on this 2-(2,-alkoxy-4,-hydroxyphenylazo)benzoic acid (HAZA) scaffold, the orthogonally protected difunctional azo,arene cleavable linker 26 was designed and synthesized. Selective linker deprotection and derivatization was performed by introducing an alkyne reactive group and a biotin affinity tag. This optimized azo,arene cleavable linker led to a total cleavage in less than 10 s with only 1 mM dithionite. Similar results were obtained in biological media. [source]


Novel affinity tag system using structurally defined antibody-tag interaction: Application to single-step protein purification

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 12 2008
Terukazu Nogi
Abstract Biologically important human proteins often require mammalian cell expression for structural studies, presenting technical and economical problems in the production/purification processes. We introduce a novel affinity peptide tagging system that uses a low affinity anti-peptide monoclonal antibody. Concatenation of the short recognition sequence enabled the successful engineering of an 18-residue affinity tag with ideal solution binding kinetics, providing a low-cost purification means when combined with nondenaturing elution by water-miscible organic solvents. Three-dimensional information provides a firm structural basis for the antibody,peptide interaction, opening opportunities for further improvements/modifications. [source]


Single-step affinity purification of recombinant proteins using a self-excising module from Neisseria meningitidis FrpC

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 10 2008
Lenka Sadilkova
Abstract Purification of recombinant proteins is often a challenging process involving several chromatographic steps that must be optimized for each target protein. Here, we developed a self-excising module allowing single-step affinity chromatography purification of untagged recombinant proteins. It consists of a 250-residue-long self-processing module of the Neisseria meningitidis FrpC protein with a C-terminal affinity tag. The N terminus of the module is fused to the C terminus of a target protein of interest. Upon binding of the fusion protein to an affinity matrix from cell lysate and washing out contaminating proteins, site-specific cleavage of the Asp,Pro bond linking the target protein to the self-excising module is induced by calcium ions. This results in the release of the target protein with only a single aspartic acid residue added at the C terminus, while the self-excising affinity module remains trapped on the affinity matrix. The system was successfully tested with several target proteins, including glutathione-S-transferase, maltose-binding protein, ,-galactosidase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, and adenylate cyclase, and two different affinity tags, chitin-binding domain or poly-His. Moreover, it was demonstrated that it can be applied as an alternative to two currently existing systems, based on the self-splicing intein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and sortase A of Staphylococcus aureus. [source]


A novel method of affinity-purifying proteins using a bis-arsenical fluorescein

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 2 2000
Kurt S. Thorn
Abstract Genetically-encoded affinity tags constitute an important strategy for purifying proteins. Here, we have designed a novel affinity matrix based on the bis-arsenical fluorescein dye FlAsH, which specifically recognizes short ,-helical peptides containing the sequence CCXXCC (Griffin BA, Adams SR, Tsien RY, 1998, Science 281:269,212). We find that kinesin tagged with this cysteine-containing helix binds specifically to FlAsH resin and can be eluted in a fully active form. This affinity tag has several advantages over polyhistidine, the only small affinity tag in common use. The protein obtained with this single chromatographic step from crude Escherichia coli lysates is purer than that obtained with nickel affinity chromatography of 6xHis tagged kinesin. Moreover, unlike nickel affinity chromatography, which requires high concentrations of imidazole or pH changes for elution, protein bound to the FlAsH column can be completely eluted by dithiothreitol. Because of these mild elution conditions, FlAsH affinity chromatography is ideal for recovering fully active protein and for the purification of intact protein complexes. [source]


Proteomic analysis of high-density lipoprotein

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 2 2006
Farhad Rezaee Dr.
Abstract Plasma lipoproteins, such as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), can serve as carriers for a wide range of proteins that are involved in processes such as lipid metabolism, thrombosis, inflammation and atherosclerosis. The identification of HDL-associated proteins is essential with regards to understanding these processes at the molecular level. In this study, a combination of proteomic approaches including 1-DE and 2-DE MALDI-TOF, isotope-coded affinity tag and Western blot analysis were employed to identify proteins associated with human HDL. To minimize potential losses of HDL-associated proteins during isolation, a one-step ultracentrifugation technique was applied and the quality of purified HDL was confirmed by nephelometry, high-performance gel chromatography, and Western blot analysis. MS analysis revealed the presence of 56 HDL-associated proteins including all known apolipoproteins and lipid transport proteins. Furthermore, proteins involved in hemostasis and thrombosis, the immune and complement system were found. In addition, growth factors, receptors, hormone-associated proteins and many other proteins were found to be associated with HDL. Our approach thus resulted in the identification of a large number of proteins associated with HDL. The combination of proteomic technologies proved to be a powerful and comprehensive tool for the identification of proteins on HDL. [source]


Quantitative profiling of LNCaP prostate cancer cells using isotope-coded affinity tags and mass spectrometry

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 4 2004
Katie L. Meehan
Abstract Androgens are involved in the pathogenesis of diseases including adenocarcinoma of the prostate. These hormones are important for growth, maintenance, and integrity of structure and function of the prostate. Androgen-deprivation is currently the only effective systemic therapy for prostate cancer but the effects of androgens on the proteome are still poorly described. Here we quantitatively profile changes in the proteome of LNCaP human prostate cancer cells in response to androgen using the newly developed isotope-coded affinity tag (ICAT) labeling and two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (2-D LC-MS/MS). ICAT enables the concurrent identification and comparative quantitative analysis of proteins present in various biological samples including human cell and tissue extracts. Quantification and identification of 139 proteins in complex protein mixtures obtained from androgen-stimulated and unstimulated LNCaP cells were achieved. Changes in levels of 77 proteins in response to androgens were detected. Some of these proteins have been previously reported to be regulated by androgens and include spermine synthase, fatty acid synthase and calreticulin precursor. A large number of proteins that have not been previously reported to be expressed in prostate cells were also quantitatively identified. Examples of these include members of the dual specificity protein phosphatase subfamily, "similar" to hypothetical protein DKFZp434B0328.1, "similar" to 14-3-3 protein zeta and "similar" to hypothetical protein 458, components of the actin cytoskeleton and a range of unknown/uncharacterized proteins. This catalogue of proteins provides an overview of the proteome of prostate cancer cells and the global changes that occur in response to androgens. [source]


Differential effects of short affinity tags on the crystallization of Pyrococcus furiosus maltodextrin-binding protein

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 3 2002
Matthew H. Bucher
Pyrococcus furiosus maltodextrin-binding protein readily forms large orthorhombic crystals that diffract to high resolution. This protein was used as a model system to investigate the influence of five short affinity tags (His6, Arg5, Strep tag II, FLAG tag and the biotin acceptor peptide) on the formation of protein crystals and their ability to diffract X-­rays. The results indicate that the amino-acid sequence of the tag can have a profound effect on both of these parameters. Consequently, the ability to obtain diffracting crystals of a particular protein may depend as much on which affinity tag is selected as it does on whether an affinity tag is used at all. [source]


Recombinant production, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of PCNA from the psychrophilic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii DSM 6242

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 11 2009
Miranda L. Byrne-Steele
Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a DNA-clamping protein that is responsible for increasing the processivity of the replicative polymerases during DNA replication and repair. The PCNA from the eurypsychrophilic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii DSM 6242 (MbPCNA) has been targeted for protein structural studies. A recombinant expression system has been created that overproduces MbPCNA with an N-terminal hexahistidine affinity tag in Escherichia coli. As a result, recombinant MbPCNA with a molecular mass of 28.3,kDa has been purified to at least 95% homogeneity and crystallized by vapor-diffusion equilibration. Preliminary X-ray analysis revealed a trigonal hexagonal R3 space group, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 102.5, c = 97.5,Å. A single MbPCNA crystal was subjected to complete diffraction data-set collection using synchrotron radiation and reflections were measured to 2.40,Å resolution. The diffraction data were of suitable quality for indexing and scaling and an unrefined molecular-replacement solution has been obtained. [source]


Strategy for selecting and characterizing linker peptides for CBM9-tagged fusion proteins expressed in Escherichia coli

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 3 2007
Mojgan Kavoosi
Abstract The influence of linker design on fusion protein production and performance was evaluated when a family 9 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM9) serves as the affinity tag for recombinant proteins expressed in Escherichia coli. Two bioinformatic strategies for linker design were applied: the first identifies naturally occurring linkers within the proteome of the host organism, the second involves screening peptidases and their known specificities using the bioinformatics software MEROPSÔ to design an artificial linker resistant to proteolysis within the host. Linkers designed using these strategies were compared against traditional poly-glycine linkers. Although widely used, glycine-rich linkers were found by tandem MS data to be susceptible to hydrolysis by E. coli peptidases. The natural (PT)xP and MEROPSÔ-designed S3N10 linkers were significantly more stable, indicating both strategies provide a useful approach to linker design. Factor Xa processing of the fusion proteins depended strongly on linker chemistry, with poly(G) and S3N10 linkers showing the fastest cleavage rates. Luminescence resonance energy transfer studies, used to measure average distance of separation between GFP and Tb(III) bound to a strong calcium-binding site of CBM9, revealed that, for a given linker chemistry, the separation distance increases with increasing linker length. This increase was particularly large for poly(G) linkers, suggesting that this linker chemistry adopts a hydrated, extended configuration that makes it particularly susceptible to proteolysis. Differential scanning calorimetry studies on the PT linker series showed that fusion of CBM9 to GFP did not alter the Tm of GFP but did result in a destabilization, as seen by both a decrease in Tm and ,Hcal, of CBM9. The degree of destabilization increased with decreasing length of the (PT)xP linker such that ,Tm,=,,8.4°C for the single P linker. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;98: 599,610. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Plasmid system for the intracellular production and purification of affinity-tagged proteins in Bacillus megaterium,

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 3 2007
Rebekka Biedendieck
Abstract A multiple vector system for the intracellular high-level production of affinity tagged recombinant proteins in Bacillus megaterium was developed. The N- and C-terminal fusion of a protein of interest to a Strep II and a His6 -tag is possible. Corresponding genes are expressed under the control of a xylose-inducible promoter in a xylose isomerase deficient host strain. The exemplatory protein production of green fluorescent protein (GFP) showed differences in produced and recovered protein amounts in dependence of the employed affinity tag and its N- or C-terminal location. Up to 9 mg GFP per liter shake flask culture were purified using one-step affinity chromatography. Integration of a protease cleavage site into the recombinant fusion protein allowed tag removal via tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease or Factor Xa treatment and a second affinity chromatographic step. Up to 274 mg/L culture were produced at 52 g CDW/L using a glucose limited fedbatch cultivation. GFP production and viability of the production host were followed by flow cytometry. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007;96: 525,537. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Direct measurement of the kinetics of CBM9 fusion-tag bioprocessing using luminescence resonance energy transfer

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 3 2009
Mojgan Kavoosi
Abstract The economics of affinity-tagging technologies, particularly at preparative scales, depends in part on the cost and efficiency of the bioprocessing step used to remove the affinity tag and obtain the final purified product (Lowe et al., J Biochem Biophys Methods. 2001;49:561,574). When CBM9, the family 9 cellulose binding module from Thermotoga maritima, serves as the affinity tag, the overall efficiency of tag removal is a function of the choice of processing enzyme and the local structure of the cleavage site, most notably the linker sequence flanking the bioprocessing recognition site on the tag side. A novel spectroscopic method is reported and used to rapidly and accurately measure CBM9 fusion-tag bioprocessing kinetics and their dependence on the choice of linker sequence. The assay monitors energy transfer between a lanthanide-based donor bound to the CBM9 tag and an acceptor fluorophore presented on the target protein or peptide. Enzyme-catalyzed cleavage of the fusion tag terminates this resonance energy transfer, resulting in a change in fluorescence intensity that can be monitored to quantify substrate concentration over time. The assay is simple, fast and accurate, providing kcat/KM values that contain standard errors of less than 3%. As a result, both substantial and subtle differences in bioprocessing kinetics can be measured and used to guide bioproduct design. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2009 [source]


Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of Pseudomonas fluorescens AlgK

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2007
Carrie-Lynn Keiski
AlgK is an outer-membrane lipoprotein involved in the biosynthesis of alginate in Pseudomonads and Azotobacter vinelandii. A recombinant form of Pseudomonas fluorescens AlgK with a C-terminal polyhistidine affinity tag has been expressed and purified from the periplasm of Escherichia coli cells and diffraction-quality crystals of AlgK have been grown using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals grow as flat plates with unit-cell parameters a = 79.09, b = 107.85, c = 119.15,Å, , = 96.97°. The crystals exhibit the symmetry of space group P21 and diffract to a minimum d -spacing of 2.5,Å at Station X29 of the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory. On the basis of the Matthews coefficient (VM = 2.53,Å3,Da,1), four protein molecules are estimated to be present in the asymmetric unit. [source]


Investigation of de novo Totally Random Biosequences, Part I

CHEMISTRY & BIODIVERSITY, Issue 8 2006
A General Method for in vitro Selection of Folded Domains from a Random Polypeptide Library Displayed on Phage
Abstract This paper reports the initial phase of a research aimed at investigating the folding frequency within a large library of polypeptides generated with a totally random sequence by phage-display technique. Resistance to proteolytic digestion has been used as a first, rudimentary folding criterion. The present paper describes, in particular, the development of a phage-display vector which has a selectable N-terminal affinity tag so that, after controlled proteolysis, the tag is cleaved from the phage. This enables the positive selection of phages that carry proteolytically resistant proteins. To test this system, avian pancreatic polypeptide (APP), one of the smallest proteins with a known structure, was chosen as a model, and its gene was inserted in a plasmid that was then used for phage display. A sequence of three amino acids, corresponding to a substrate for thrombin, was introduced at different locations within the APP sequence without significantly modifying the tertiary structure, as determined by circular dichroism (CD) analysis. These sequences were then used to show that the target tripeptide sequence was protected against proteolysis by the overall folding of the chain. Thus, these results show that the method permits the discrimination between folded and unfolded protein domains displayed on phage. The application of this protocol to a large library of totally random polypeptide chains is discussed as a preliminary to successive work, dealing with the production of totally random polypeptide sequences. [source]


Probing protein function by chemical modification,

JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE, Issue 10 2010
Yao-Wen Wu
Abstract Labeling proteins with synthetic probes, such as fluorophores, affinity tags, and other functional labels is enormously useful for characterizing protein function in vitro, in live cells, or in whole organisms. Recent advancements of chemical methods have substantially expanded the tools that are applicable to modify proteins. In this review, we discuss some important chemical methods for site-specific protein modification and highlight the application of established techniques to tackle biological questions. Copyright © 2010 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Impact of Chronic Alcohol Ingestion on Cardiac Muscle Protein Expression

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 7 2010
Rachel L. Fogle
Background:, Chronic alcohol abuse contributes not only to an increased risk of health-related complications, but also to a premature mortality in adults. Myocardial dysfunction, including the development of a syndrome referred to as alcoholic cardiomyopathy, appears to be a major contributing factor. One mechanism to account for the pathogenesis of alcoholic cardiomyopathy involves alterations in protein expression secondary to an inhibition of protein synthesis. However, the full extent to which myocardial proteins are affected by chronic alcohol consumption remains unresolved. Methods:, The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of chronic alcohol consumption on the expression of cardiac proteins. Male rats were maintained for 16 weeks on a 40% ethanol-containing diet in which alcohol was provided both in drinking water and agar blocks. Control animals were pair-fed to consume the same caloric intake. Heart homogenates from control- and ethanol-fed rats were labeled with the cleavable isotope coded affinity tags (ICATÔ). Following the reaction with the ICATÔ reagent, we applied one-dimensional gel electrophoresis with in-gel trypsin digestion of proteins and subsequent MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometric techniques for identification of peptides. Differences in the expression of cardiac proteins from control- and ethanol-fed rats were determined by mass spectrometry approaches. Results:, Initial proteomic analysis identified and quantified hundreds of cardiac proteins. Major decreases in the expression of specific myocardial proteins were observed. Proteins were grouped depending on their contribution to multiple activities of cardiac function and metabolism, including mitochondrial-, glycolytic-, myofibrillar-, membrane-associated, and plasma proteins. Another group contained identified proteins that could not be properly categorized under the aforementioned classification system. Conclusions:, Based on the changes in proteins, we speculate modulation of cardiac muscle protein expression represents a fundamental alteration induced by chronic alcohol consumption, consistent with changes in myocardial wall thickness measured under the same conditions. [source]


Concepts and Approaches Towards Understanding the Cellular Redox Proteome

PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2006
E. Ströher
Abstract: The physiological activity of a significant subset of cell proteins is modified by the redox state of regulatory thiols. The cellular redox homeostasis depends on the balance between oxidation of thiols through oxygen and reactive oxygen species and reduction by thiol-disulfide transfer reactions. Novel and improved methodology has been designed during recent years to address the level of thiol/disulfide regulation on a genome-wide scale. The approaches are either based on gel electrophoresis or on chromatographic techniques coupled to high end mass spectrometry. The review addresses diagonal 2D-SDS-PAGE, targeted identification of specific redox-interactions, affinity chromatography with thioredoxins and glutaredoxins, gel-based and non-gel based labelling techniques with fluorophores (such as Cy3, Cy5, ICy), radioisotopes, or with isotope-coded affinity tags (ICAT), differential gel electrophoresis (DIGE) and combined fractional diagonal chromatography (COFRADIC). The extended methodological repertoire promises fast and new insight into the intricate regulation network of the redox proteome of animals, bacteria, and plants. [source]


Single-step affinity purification of recombinant proteins using a self-excising module from Neisseria meningitidis FrpC

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 10 2008
Lenka Sadilkova
Abstract Purification of recombinant proteins is often a challenging process involving several chromatographic steps that must be optimized for each target protein. Here, we developed a self-excising module allowing single-step affinity chromatography purification of untagged recombinant proteins. It consists of a 250-residue-long self-processing module of the Neisseria meningitidis FrpC protein with a C-terminal affinity tag. The N terminus of the module is fused to the C terminus of a target protein of interest. Upon binding of the fusion protein to an affinity matrix from cell lysate and washing out contaminating proteins, site-specific cleavage of the Asp,Pro bond linking the target protein to the self-excising module is induced by calcium ions. This results in the release of the target protein with only a single aspartic acid residue added at the C terminus, while the self-excising affinity module remains trapped on the affinity matrix. The system was successfully tested with several target proteins, including glutathione-S-transferase, maltose-binding protein, ,-galactosidase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, and adenylate cyclase, and two different affinity tags, chitin-binding domain or poly-His. Moreover, it was demonstrated that it can be applied as an alternative to two currently existing systems, based on the self-splicing intein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and sortase A of Staphylococcus aureus. [source]


A novel method of affinity-purifying proteins using a bis-arsenical fluorescein

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 2 2000
Kurt S. Thorn
Abstract Genetically-encoded affinity tags constitute an important strategy for purifying proteins. Here, we have designed a novel affinity matrix based on the bis-arsenical fluorescein dye FlAsH, which specifically recognizes short ,-helical peptides containing the sequence CCXXCC (Griffin BA, Adams SR, Tsien RY, 1998, Science 281:269,212). We find that kinesin tagged with this cysteine-containing helix binds specifically to FlAsH resin and can be eluted in a fully active form. This affinity tag has several advantages over polyhistidine, the only small affinity tag in common use. The protein obtained with this single chromatographic step from crude Escherichia coli lysates is purer than that obtained with nickel affinity chromatography of 6xHis tagged kinesin. Moreover, unlike nickel affinity chromatography, which requires high concentrations of imidazole or pH changes for elution, protein bound to the FlAsH column can be completely eluted by dithiothreitol. Because of these mild elution conditions, FlAsH affinity chromatography is ideal for recovering fully active protein and for the purification of intact protein complexes. [source]


Chemistry meets proteomics: The use of chemical tagging reactions for MS-based proteomics

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 20 2006
Alexander Leitner Dr.
Abstract As proteomics matures from a purely descriptive to a function-oriented discipline of the life sciences, there is strong demand for novel methodologies that increase the depth of information that can be obtained from proteomic studies. MS has long played a central role for protein identification and characterization, often in combination with dedicated chemical modification reactions. Today, chemistry is helping to advance the field of proteomics in numerous ways. In this review, we focus on those methodologies that have a significant impact for the large-scale study of proteins and peptides. This includes approaches that allow the introduction of affinity tags for the enrichment of subclasses of peptides or proteins and strategies for in,vitro stable isotope labeling for quantification purposes, among others. Particular attention is given to the study of PTMs where recent advancements have been promising, but many interesting targets are not yet being addressed. [source]


Quantitative profiling of LNCaP prostate cancer cells using isotope-coded affinity tags and mass spectrometry

PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 4 2004
Katie L. Meehan
Abstract Androgens are involved in the pathogenesis of diseases including adenocarcinoma of the prostate. These hormones are important for growth, maintenance, and integrity of structure and function of the prostate. Androgen-deprivation is currently the only effective systemic therapy for prostate cancer but the effects of androgens on the proteome are still poorly described. Here we quantitatively profile changes in the proteome of LNCaP human prostate cancer cells in response to androgen using the newly developed isotope-coded affinity tag (ICAT) labeling and two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (2-D LC-MS/MS). ICAT enables the concurrent identification and comparative quantitative analysis of proteins present in various biological samples including human cell and tissue extracts. Quantification and identification of 139 proteins in complex protein mixtures obtained from androgen-stimulated and unstimulated LNCaP cells were achieved. Changes in levels of 77 proteins in response to androgens were detected. Some of these proteins have been previously reported to be regulated by androgens and include spermine synthase, fatty acid synthase and calreticulin precursor. A large number of proteins that have not been previously reported to be expressed in prostate cells were also quantitatively identified. Examples of these include members of the dual specificity protein phosphatase subfamily, "similar" to hypothetical protein DKFZp434B0328.1, "similar" to 14-3-3 protein zeta and "similar" to hypothetical protein 458, components of the actin cytoskeleton and a range of unknown/uncharacterized proteins. This catalogue of proteins provides an overview of the proteome of prostate cancer cells and the global changes that occur in response to androgens. [source]


Differential effects of short affinity tags on the crystallization of Pyrococcus furiosus maltodextrin-binding protein

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 3 2002
Matthew H. Bucher
Pyrococcus furiosus maltodextrin-binding protein readily forms large orthorhombic crystals that diffract to high resolution. This protein was used as a model system to investigate the influence of five short affinity tags (His6, Arg5, Strep tag II, FLAG tag and the biotin acceptor peptide) on the formation of protein crystals and their ability to diffract X-­rays. The results indicate that the amino-acid sequence of the tag can have a profound effect on both of these parameters. Consequently, the ability to obtain diffracting crystals of a particular protein may depend as much on which affinity tag is selected as it does on whether an affinity tag is used at all. [source]


Study of Protein Splicing and Intein-Mediated Peptide Bond Cleavage under High-Cell-Density Conditions

BIOTECHNOLOGY PROGRESS, Issue 3 2003
Shamik Sharma
Protein splicing elements (inteins), capable of catalyzing controllable peptide bond cleavage reactions, have been used to separate recombinant proteins from affinity tags during affinity purification. Since the inteins eliminate the use of a protease in the recovery process, the intein-mediated purification system has the potential to significantly reduce recovery costs for the industrial production of recombinant proteins. Thus far, the intein system has only been examined and utilized for expression and purification of recombinant proteins at the laboratory scale for cells cultivated at low cell densities. In this study, protein splicing and in vitro cleavage of intein fusion proteins expressed in high-cell-density fed-batch fermentations of recombinant Escherichia coli were examined. Three model intein fusion constructs were used to examine the stability and splicing/cleavage activities of the fusion proteins produced under high-cell-density conditions. The data indicated that the intein fusion protein containing the wild-type intein catalyzed efficient in vivo protein splicing during high-cell-density cultivation. Also, the intein fusion proteins containing modified inteins catalyzed efficient thiol-induced in vitro cleavage reactions. The results of this study demonstrated the potential feasibility of using the intein-mediated protein purification system for industrial-scale production of recombinant proteins. [source]