Characterization and Function of a Novel Welan Gum Lyase From Marine Sphingomonas sp. WG.

Welan gum, a kind of microbial exopolysaccharides, produced by the genus Sphingomonas, have great potential for application in many fields, such as the food industry, cement production, and enhanced oil recovery. But there are still challenges to reduce the cost, enhance the production and the quality. Herein, the bioinformatics analysis of WelR gene was preformed, and the characterization and function of WelR, welan gum lyase, from Sphingomonas sp. WG were investigated for the first time. The results indicated that 382nd (Asn), 383rd (Met), 494th (Asn), and 568th (Glu) were the key amino acid residues, and C-terminal amino acids were essential to keeping the stability of WelR. The optimal temperature and pH of the enzymatic activity were found to be 25°C and 7.4, respectively. And WelR was good low temperature resistance and alkali resistant. K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, and EDTA increased WelR activities, in contrast to Zn2+. Coupled with the change in glucose concentration and growth profile, the qRT-PCR results indicated that WelR may degrade welan gum existing in the culture to maintain bacterial metabolism when glucose was depleted. This work will lay a theoretical foundation to establish new strategies for the regulation of welan gum biosynthesis.

Significantly improved production of Welan gum by Sphingomonas sp. WG through a novel quorum-sensing-interfering dipeptide cyclo(L-Pro-L-Phe).

A variety of physiological functions such as exopolysaccharide synthesis, antibiotic production, and primary metabolism are tightly controlled by quorum sensing in microorganisms. In this study, a marine-derived bacterium Sphingomonas sp. WG was found to possess a cyclo(L-Pro-L-Phe)-mediated quorum sensing mechanism. The cyclo(L-Pro-L-Phe) produced by Sphingomonas sp. WG functions as a signalling molecule in this quorum sensing system. It is the first attempt to characterize cyclic dipeptides as quorum sensing signalling molecules in Sphingomonas sp. and the results effectively make the classical quorum sensing theory more perfect. Furthermore, the supplementation with isolated cyclo(L-Pro-L-Phe) resulted in a 15% increase in the production of welan gum secreted by Sphingomonas sp. WG in the submerged fermentation. The data presented in this study will provide evidences for exploring the role of cyclic dipeptides in regulating the production of welan gum.

Curcumin-Loaded Blood-Stable Polymeric Micelles for Enhancing Therapeutic Effect on Erythroleukemia.

Curcumin has high potential in suppressing many types of cancer and overcoming multidrug resistance in a multifaceted manner by targeting diverse molecular targets. However, the rather low systemic bioavailability resulted from its poor solubility in water and fast metabolism/excretion in vivo has hampered its applications in cancer therapy. To increase the aqueous solubility of curcumin while retaining the stability in blood circulation, here we report curcumin-loaded copolymer micelles with excellent in vitro and in vivo stability and antitumor efficacy. The two copolymers used for comparison were methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ε-caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL) and N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-l-phenylalanine end-capped mPEG-PCL (mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc)). In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation against human pancreatic SW1990 cell line showed that the delivery of curcumin in mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc) micelles to cancer cells was efficient and dosage-dependent. The pharmacokinetics in ICR mice indicated that intravenous (i.v.) administration of curcumin/mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc) micelles could retain curcumin in plasma much better than curcumin/mPEG-PCL micelles. Biodistribution results in Sprague-Dawley rats also showed higher uptake and slower elimination of curcumin into liver, lung, kidney, and brain, and lower uptake into heart and spleen of mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc) micelles, as compared with mPEG-PCL micelles. Further in vivo efficacy evaluation in multidrug-resistant human erythroleukemia K562/ADR xenograft model revealed that i.v. administration of curcumin-loaded mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc) micelles significantly delayed tumor growth, which was attributed to the improved stability of curcumin in the bloodstream and increased systemic bioavailability. The mPEG-PCL-Phe(Boc) micellar system is promising in overcoming the key challenge of curcumin's to promote its applications in cancer therapy.

Enhanced acetoin production by Serratia marcescens H32 with expression of a water-forming NADH oxidase.

Cofactor engineering was employed to enhance production of acetoin by Serratia marcescens H32. 2,3-Butanediol was a major byproduct of acetoin fermentation by S. marcescens H32. In order to decrease 2,3-butanediol formation and achieve a high efficiency of acetoin production, nox gene encoding a water-forming NADH oxidase from Lactobacillus brevis was expressed. Batch fermentations suggested the expression of the NADH oxidase could increase the intracellular NAD(+) concentration (1.5-fold) and NAD(+)/NADH ratio (2.9-fold). Meanwhile, 2,3-butanediol was significantly decreased (52%), and the accumulation of acetoin was enhanced (33%) accordingly. By fed-batch culture of the engineered strain, the final acetoin titer up to 75.2g/l with the productivity of 1.88 g/(lh) was obtained. To the best of our knowledge, these results were new records on acetoin fermentation ever reported.

A novel quorum sensing system co-regulated by chromosome- and plasmid-encoded genes in Serratia marcescens H30.

The key genes, SpnI and SpnR, involved in AI-1-quorum sensing system of Serratia marcescens strain H30 were cloned and localized using specific primers (5'-CTTGAACTGTTTGACGTCAGC-3' and 5'-AGCGGCCAGGTAATAACTGA-3', 5'-GCCTTCAATGAAAATCAGACC-3' and 5'-TGTCGCTGTGATAAGCTCCA-3') designed according to the nucleic acid sequences published at NCBI (accession no. AB234869). The PCR result demonstrated that the genes SpnI and SpnR were located on the bacterial chromosome and plasmid, respectively. This was also confirmed by Southern blotting using an internal fragment (379 bp) from SpnR gene as a probe. These results imply a new type quorum sensing regulation system that had never been reported previously.

Cloning and characterizations of the Serratia marcescens metK and pfs genes involved in AI-2-dependent quorum-sensing system.

Serratia marcescens utilizes two types of quorum-sensing signal molecules: N-acyl homoserine lactones and furanosyl borate diester (AI-2). S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (METK), S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidase (PFS), and S-ribosylhomocysteinase (LUXS) are three key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway leading to AI-2 production. The sequence of luxS gene was published at NCBI (Accession number: EF164926). So in this study, Serratia marcescens metK and pfs genes were successfully cloned with inverse PCR. The results show that the ORF lengths of metK and pfs are 1155 and 702 bp, and encode proteins of 384 and 233 residues. Their molecular weights and isoelectric points are 41.85 kD and 5.50; 27.67 kD and 5.56, which are acidic proteins judging from the calculated pI values. Expression products of two genes with pET28a((+)) system exhibited molecular weights in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis comparable with a theoretical estimation. The sequences of these two genes were conferred China patent application numbers CN 200710048016.X and CN 200710048015.5, respectively.

Refolding and structural characteristic of TRAIL/Apo2L inclusion bodies from different specific growth rates of recombinant Escherichia coli.

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/Apo2L) was produced mainly as inclusion bodies (IBs) by recombinant Escherichia coli with a temperature-inducible expression system. The yield of TRAIL type 2 IBs at higher preinduction specific growth rate (mu = 0.15 h-1) was higher than that of TRAIL type 1 IBs at lower preinduction specific growth rate (mu = 0.05 h-1). With the same optimized refolding protocols, two types of IBs exhibited different refolding features. Refolded type 1 IBs had higher recovery of more than 80% compared with type 2 IBs (57-63%). By the measurements of fluorescence and CD spectroscopy, type 1 TRAIL IBs dissolved by urea appeared to be a closer secondary structure to the native TRAIL than type 2. Furthermore, with trypsin treatment, the striking decrease in stability of type 1 IBs against protease digestion cannot be attributed to their small size particles observed by scanning electron microscope and probably depend on different protein structure properties between the two IBs. Different properties of inclusion bodies were mainly influenced by different physiological states of the cells just prior to the induction.

Improvement of expression level and bioactivity of soluble tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL) by a novel zinc ion feeding strategy.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL) is a new member of the TNF superfamily. In this work, the key role of Zn(2+) in high-level expression of soluble TRAIL was confirmed. The yield of soluble TRAIL reached 1.6 g l(-1) using a novel, two-stage Zn(2+) feeding strategy, and the accumulation of TRAIL inclusion bodies decreased. Furthermore, the purified TRAIL showed stronger cytotoxicity activity against human pancreatic 1990 tumor cells as the molar ratio of Zn(2+) to TRAIL monomer was 2 in purified TRAIL solution.

Functional solubilization of aggregation-prone TRAIL protein facilitated by coexpressing with protein isoaspartate methyltranferase.

TRAIL was a tumor-specific protein in development as a novel anticancer therapeutic agent. Generally, when expressed in recombinant Escherichia coli, TRAIL protein was prone to form inclusion bodies. In this study, coexpression of human TRAIL protein and protein isoaspartate methyltranferase (PIMT) from E. coli on plasmid pBV-TRAIL-PCM in E. coli C600 was investigated to overcome the difficulties in soluble expression. The results showed that this PIMT coexpression strategy exerted a positive effect on the TRAIL protein expression in recombinant E. coli, which led to a mean increase in the intracellular concentration of soluble and total protein of TRAIL by 1.57-fold and 1.33-fold, respectively. At the same time, results also suggested that PIMT was a prospective partner for soluble expression of TRAIL protein.

Chromosomal integration of the Vitreoscilla hemoglobin gene and its physiological actions in Tremella fuciformis.

The Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) gene was expressed in yeast-like conidia (YLCs) of Tremella fuciformis (T. fuciformis) to increase cell density in submerged fermentation by enhancing oxygen uptake. With the intention of doing this, an integrated expression vector containing the VHb gene and the hygromycin B phosphotransferase (hph) gene derived from Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the selectable marker was constructed, and then transformed into protoplasts of YLCs from T. fuciformis with restriction enzyme-mediated DNA integration (REMI). Hygromycin-resistant transformants had been generated during the transformation. Molecular evidences including PCR assay, Southern blotting, and Western blot analysis indicated the VHb gene had been integrated into the genome of transgenic T. fuciformis strains and was expressed successfully. Shake-flask fermentation and bioreactor cultivation results showed that the expression of VHb in this fungus could enhance growth of YLCs. The final cell density was higher in the culture of VHb-expressing strain than that of the wild-type strain. Moreover, these results also suggested that CaMV35S promoter was capable of driving the expression of heterologous genes in T. fuciformis.

Optimization of culture on the overproduction of TRAIL in high-cell-density culture by recombinant Escherichia coli.

Different nutrient-feeding cultures were carried out in producing recombinant protein of truncated tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) (114-281 amino acids of TRAIL) in Escherichia coli strain C600/pBV-TRAIL. The effects of preinduction specific growth rate, postinduction carbon source (glucose and glycerol), and feeding strategies were investigated. The higher preinduction specific growth rate (mu = 0.22 h(-1)) contributed to the increase in the TRAIL production, at which TRAIL was accumulated in bacterial cells as 7.2% of total cellular protein, corresponding to 1.99 g l(-1) in contrast with 5.1% (1.29 g l(-1)) at preinduction specific growth rate (mu = 0.1 h(-1)) during high-cell-density culture. Glycerol was superior to glucose as the postinduction carbon source for TRAIL production. Under similar culture conditions, the final concentration of TRAIL was produced 1.59-fold more when glycerol was used as postinduction carbon source than when glucose was used. At the same time, the results showed that it is efficient to adopt the pH-stat feeding strategy at postinduction for the overproduction of TRAIL. The TRAIL production was increased up to 4.51 g l(-1), approximately 16.1% of total cellular protein. The mechanisms behind the preinduction specific growth rate effect on the expression level may be ascribed to the leakage secretion of acetate.

High-level production of soluble tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL) in high-density cultivation of recombinant Escherichia coli using a combined feeding strategy.

Recombinant Escherichia coli strain C600/pBV-TRAIL (encoding for 114-281 amino acids of TRAIL's soluble fragment) produced a recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL). Using a combined strategy of exponential feeding and pH-stat feeding, high concentrations of biomass (65 g dry wt l(-1)) and active soluble TRAIL (1.4 g l(-1)) were obtained within 30 h. The accumulation of acetate, which usually occurs during the process of high-density culture of Escherichia coli and especially in the induction stage of protein synthesis, was avoided.

Purification and characterization of recombinant sTRAIL expressed in Escherichia coli.

As a potential anti-tumor protein, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has drawn considerable attention. This report presented the purification and characterization of soluble TRAIL, expressed as inclusion bodies in E. coli. sTRAIL inclusion bodies were solubilized and refolded at a high concentration up to 0.9 g/L by a simple dilution method. Refolded protein was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by a single-step immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The purified sTRAIL had a strong cytotoxic activity against human pancreatic tumor cell line 1990, with ED50 about 1.5 mg/L. Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectrum analysis showed that the refolded sTRAIL had a structure similar to that of native protein with beta-sheet secondary structure. This efficient procedure of sTRAIL renaturation may be useful for the mass production of this therapeutically important protein.

[High-cell density cultivation of recombinant Escherichia coli for production of TRAIL by using a 2-stage feeding strategy].

Escherichia coli was genetically engineered to produce recombinant tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL) using a temperature-inducible expression system. To create a fed-batch culture condition that allows efficient production of TRAIL, different feeding strategy including discontinuous, DO-stat and pH-stat feeding strategies were compared. Then, a special 2-stage feeding strategy was developed. High concentration of biomass (300g wet cell weight per liter of culture broth) and active soluble TRAIL protein (1.1g/L) was obtained by applying a high-cell-density cultivation procedure with the 2-stage feeding strategy. Cultivation of recombinant E. coli was started as a batch process at 30 degrees C and then followed by fed-batch culture when the dissolved oxygen concentration presented a steep increase resulted from the exhaustion of glucose in the medium. At the first phase of fermentation (batch phase), agitation rate was enhanced to control dissolved oxygen at 30 percent. When glucose in the medium was used up, indicated by a sudden rise in pH value and dissolved oxygen, the second phase (fed-batch phase) was started with glucose and nitrogen resource being supplied automatically. At the beginning of fed-batch operation, stirrer rate was cascaded with dissolved oxygen signals to keep it at 20 percent (DO-stat). During the fed-batch phase, glucose was limited to control the specific growth rate under the critical value microcrit, to avoid acetic acid excretion. When the stirrer speed arrived at its up-limit, the flow rate of feed was kept constant. In the inducing phase(42 degrees C for 4h) glucose was fed as a pH regulating agent (pH-stat) and the specific growth rate and dissolved oxygen decreased sharply. Aqueous ammonia was used for maintaining pH value at 7.0 throughout the first two phases. In the whole fermentation, acetic acid concentration didn't exceed 2.9 g/L. At the end of the high-cell-density cultivation process, no acetic acid could be detected in the medium. These results indicated that our fed-batch strategy was able to prevent acetate accumulation significantly. Although high cell density has been achieved, the induction process was not optimized satisfactorily and much work should be done further. Furthermore, since no special ways, like pure oxygen, pressure, has been used in our experiments, this efficient approaches would be useful not only in a pilot scale but also in an industry scale. Finally, simple purification procedure based on immobilized metal affinity column (IMAC) and CM-Sepharose column was implemented to isolate the TRAIL. Yields of more than 800mg TRAIL per liter of culture broth were obtained, the final purity reaching more than 95%. The purified TRAIL showed strong cytotoxity activity against human pancreatic 1990 tumor cells, with ED50 about 1.6 microg/mL.

Refolding and purification of Apo2l/TRAIL produced as inclusion bodies in high-cell-density cultures of recombinant Escherichia coli.

As a new member of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (Apo2L/TRAIL) was produced mainly as inclusion bodies by recombinant Escherichia coli with a temperature-inducible expression system. High concentrations of both biomass (65 g dry cells l(-1)) and inactive TRAIL (4.8 g l(-1)) were obtained by applying a high-cell-density cultivation procedure. After the inclusion bodies were washed and solubilized. TRAIL refolded when at 1 mg ml(-1) by a simple pulse dilution method with a 35% yield. Renatured TRAIL was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by one-step immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The purified TRAIL showed strong cytotoxicity activity against human pancreatic 1990 tumor cells, with ED50 about 1.6 microg ml(-1).