Internal (His)6-tagging delivers a fully functional hetero-oligomeric class II chaperonin in high yield.

Group II chaperonins are ATP-ases indispensable for the folding of many proteins that play a crucial role in Archaea and Eukarya. They display a conserved two-ringed assembly enclosing an internal chamber where newly translated or misfolded polypeptides can fold to their native structure. They are mainly hexadecamers, with each eight-membered ring composed of one or two (in Archaea) or eight (in Eukarya) different subunits. A major recurring problem within group II chaperonin research, especially with the hetero-oligomeric forms, is to establish an efficient recombinant system for the expression of large amounts of wild-type as well as mutated variants. Herein we show how we can produce, in E. coli cells, unprecedented amounts of correctly assembled and active αß-thermosome, the class II chaperonin from Thermoplasma acidophilum, by introducing a (His)6-tag within a loop in the α subunit of the complex. The specific location was identified via a rational approach and proved not to disturb the structure of the chaperonin, as demonstrated by size-exclusion chromatography, native gel electrophoresis and electron microscopy. Likewise, the tagged protein showed an ATP-ase activity and an ability to refold substrates identical to the wild type. This tagging strategy might be employed for the overexpression of other recombinant chaperonins.

Overexpression, purification, and characterization of beta-subunit group II chaperonin from hyperthermophilic Aeropyrum pernix K1.

In the present study, overexpression, purification, and characterization of Aeropyrum pernix K1 chaperonin B in E. coli were investigated. The chaperonin beta-subunit gene (ApCpnB, 1,665 bp ORF) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon A. pernix K1 was amplified by PCR and subcloned into vector pET21a. The constructed pET21a-ApCpnB (6.9 kb) was transformed into E. coli BL21 Codonplus (DE3). The transformant cell successfully expressed ApCpnB, and the expression of ApCpnB (61.2 kDa) was identified through analysis of the fractions by SDS-PAGE (14% gel). The recombinant ApCpnB was purified to higher than 94% by using heat-shock treatment at 90 degrees C for 20 min and fast protein liquid chromatography on a HiTrap Q column step. The purified ApCpnB showed ATPase activity and its activity was dependent on temperature. In the presence of ATP, ApCpnB effectively protected citrate synthase (CS) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) from thermal aggregation and inactivation at 43 degrees C and 50 degrees C, respectively. Specifically, the activity of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) at 85 degrees C was greatly stabilized by the addition of ApCpnB and ATP. Coexpression of procarboxypeptidase B (pro-CPB) and ApCpnB in E. coli BL21 Codonplus (DE3) had a marked effect on the yield of pro-CPB as a soluble and active form, speculating that ApCpnB facilitates the correct folding of pro-CPB. These results suggest that ApCpnB has both foldase and holdase activities and can be used as a powerful molecular machinery for the production of recombinant proteins as soluble and active forms in E. coli.