A method for the amidation of recombinant peptides expressed as intein fusion proteins in Escherichia coli.

The increasing use of peptides as pharmaceutical agents, especially in the antiviral and anti-infective therapeutic areas, requires cost-effective production on a large scale. Many peptides need carboxy amidation for full activity or prolonged bioavailability. However, this modification is not possible in prokaryotes and must be done using recombinant enzymes or by expression in transgenic milk. Methods employing recombinant enzymes are appropriate for small-scale production, whereas transgenic milk expression is suitable for making complex disulfide-containing peptides required in large quantity. Here we describe a method for making amidated peptides using a modified self-cleaving vacuolar membrane ATPase (VMA) intein expression system. This system is suitable for making amidated peptides at a laboratory scale using readily available constructs and reagents. Further improvements are possible, such as reducing the size of the intein to improve the peptide yields (the VMA intein comprises 454 amino acids) and, if necessary, secreting the fusion protein to ensure correct N-terminal processing to the peptide. With such developments, this method could form the basis of a large-scale cost-effective system for the bulk production of amidated peptides without the use of recombinant enzymes or the need to cleave fusion proteins.

Control of amino acid transport coordinates metabolic reprogramming in T-cell malignancy.

This study explores the regulation and importance of System L amino acid transport in a murine model of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) caused by deletion of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN). There has been a strong focus on glucose transport in leukemias but the present data show that primary T-ALL cells have increased transport of multiple nutrients. Specifically, increased leucine transport in T-ALL fuels mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activity which then sustains expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF1α) and c-Myc; drivers of glucose metabolism in T cells. A key finding is that PTEN deletion and phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3) accumulation is insufficient to initiate leucine uptake, mTORC1 activity, HIF1α or c-Myc expression in T cells and hence cannot drive T-ALL metabolic reprogramming. Instead, a key regulator for leucine transport in T-ALL is identified as NOTCH. Mass spectrometry based proteomics identifies SLC7A5 as the predominant amino acid transporter in primary PTEN-/- T-ALL cells. Importantly, expression of SLC7A5 is critical for the malignant transformation induced by PTEN deletion. These data reveal the importance of regulated amino acid transport for T-cell malignancies, highlighting how a single amino acid transporter can have a key role.

Oxidative stress and heat shock induce a human gene encoding a protein-tyrosine phosphatase.

Reactive oxygen species have been implicated both in the ageing process and in degenerative diseases, including arthritis and cancer. Bacteria adapt to the lethal effects of oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide by inducing the expression of protective stress genes. Analogous responses have been identified in human cells. For example, haem oxygenase is a major stress protein in human cells treated with oxidants, and reactive oxygen intermediates activate NF-kappa B, a transcriptional regulator of genes involved in inflammatory and acute-phase responses. We report here the isolation and characterization of a novel complementary DNA (CL100) corresponding to a messenger RNA that is highly inducible by oxidative stress and heat shock in human skin cells. The cDNA contains an open reading frame specifying a protein of M(r) 39.3K with the structural features of a non-receptor-type protein-tyrosine phosphatase and which has significant amino-acid sequence similarity to a Tyr/Ser-protein phosphatase encoded by the late gene H1 of vaccinia virus. The purified protein encoded by the CL100 open reading frame expressed in bacteria has intrinsic phosphatase activity. Given the relationship between the levels of protein-tyrosine phosphorylation, receptor activity, cellular proliferation and cell-cycle control, the induction of this gene may play an important regulatory role in the human cellular response to environmental stress.

Related calcium-binding proteins map to the same subregion of chromosome 1q and to an extended region of synteny on mouse chromosome 3.

The serum protein cystic fibrosis-associated antigen (CFAG), present at elevated levels in CF homozygotes and heterozygotes, is now known to consist of two distinct but related subunits (calgranulins A (CAGA) and B (CAGB)). Both show similarity to the S100-related calcium-binding proteins. We have previously assigned CAGA to human chromosome 1q12-q21 and demonstrate here that the cDNA probe for CAGB cosegregates with it in our somatic cell hybrid panel. cDNA probes for the related genes calcyclin (CACY) and a mouse placental protein (18A2, suggested name Capl) enabled us to confirm and refine the in situ hybridization result assigning CACY to chromosome 1q21-25 and to demonstrate that both genes cosegregate with CAGA and CAGB. Capl was mapped to a region of chromosome 3 in the mouse using the BXD recombinant inbred strain mice where the p11 protein (calpactin light chain Cal1l), another S100 family member, has been localized. Cacy is shown to be within 8 kb of Capl in the mouse genome.

Gene targeting for somatic cell manipulation: rapid analysis of reduced chromosome hybrids by Alu-PCR fingerprinting and chromosome painting.

The techniques of reverse genetics rely heavily on parasexual methods for manipulating the human genome. However, the application of somatic cell genetics is severely limited by the availability of suitable endogenous selectable markers in the genome. We have addressed this problem by targeting a universally selectable marker into a predetermined region of the genome, using a stringent selection for homologous recombination. Correct gene targeting to human chromosome 7q11 was screened for by Southern blotting and confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization. Reduced chromosome 7 hybrids were generated by chromosome mediated gene transfer and selection for the neo gene. The resultant transgenomes were characterized by a combination of L1 fingerprinting, locus specific marker analysis, Alu-PCR and chromosome 'painting'. Alu-PCR and L1 'fingerprints' are complementary and mutually consistent. Chromosome 'painting' reflects and extends the results obtained for specific marker co-transfer. Thus Alu-PCR 'fingerprinting' and 'painting' combine to rapidly provide an accurate picture of transgenome content and complexity. Gene targeting, chromosome tagging and subsequent isolation can be applied to any region of the genome for which a molecular probe is available.

The CL100 gene, which encodes a dual specificity (Tyr/Thr) MAP kinase phosphatase, is highly conserved and maps to human chromosome 5q34.

Expression of the human CL100 gene is induced in skin fibroblasts in response to oxidative/heat stress and growth factors. The CL100 gene encodes a dual specificity (Tyr/Thr) protein phosphatase that specifically inactivates mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase in vitro. In addition, CL100 is able to suppress the activation of MAP kinase by oncogenic ras in extracts of Xenopus oocytes. Thus, the CL100 phosphatase may play an important role in the negative regulation of cellular proliferation and is a likely candidate for a tumour-suppressor gene. Here, we show that DNA sequences homologous to CL100 are present in genomic DNA isolated from mouse, chicken, Xenopus and Drosophila, indicating that the CL100 gene is highly conserved. Using an assay based on the polymerase chain reaction, in conjunction with genomic DNA obtained from human-rodent somatic-cell hybrids, we have determined that the CL100 gene is situated on chromosome 5. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation using a CL100 genomic probe confirms that the CL100 mRNA is transcribed from a single genetic locus and maps the gene to 5q34.

SV40-mediated tumor selection and chromosome transfer to enrich for cystic fibrosis region.

The somatic cell hybrid C121, with chromosome 7 as its sole human component, arose when mouse macrophages SV40 genomes are integrated at 7q31-7q35. We show that hybrids with a reduced chromosome 7 component, but which retain markers linked to the cystic fibrosis locus, can be generated by direct in vivo tumor selection or following chromosome-mediated gene transfer and SV40-mediated cellular transformation. Our methods for chromosome fragmentation and fine-structure mapping can now be applied to the substantial number of SV40-transformed human cell lines, with independent chromosomal integration sites, already available. Our results also suggest that expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor augments the tumorigenic potential of the SV40-transformed C121 hybrid.

Successful targeting of the mouse cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene in embryonal stem cells.

We wish to construct a mouse model for the human inherited disease cystic fibrosis. We describe here the successful targeting in embryonal stem cells of the murine homologue (Cftr) of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene, as the first critical step towards this end. The targeting event precisely disrupts exon 10, the site of the major mutation in patients with cystic fibrosis. The targeted cells are pluripotent and competent to form chimaeras.