Cationic polymer precipitation for enhanced impurity removal in downstream processing.

Precipitation can be used for the removal of impurities early in the downstream purification process of biologics, with the soluble product remaining in the filtrate through microfiltration. The objective of this study was to examine the use of polyallylamine (PAA) precipitation to increase the purity of product via higher host cell protein removal to enhance polysorbate excipient stability to enable a longer shelf life. Experiments were performed using three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with different properties of isoelectric point and IgG subclass. High throughput workflows were established to quickly screen precipitation conditions as a function of pH, conductivity and PAA concentrations. Process analytical tools (PATs) were used to evaluate the size distribution of particles and inform the optimal precipitation condition. Minimal pressure increase was observed during depth filtration of the precipitates. The precipitation was scaled up to 20L size and the extensive characterization of precipitated samples after protein A chromatography showed >75% reduction of host cell protein (HCP) concentrations (by ELISA), >90% reduction of number of HCP species (by mass spectrometry), and >99.8% reduction of DNA. The stability of polysorbate containing formulation buffers for all three mAbs in the protein A purified intermediates was improved at least 25% after PAA precipitation. Mass spectrometry was used to obtain additional understanding of the interaction between PAA and HCPs with different properties. Minimal impact on product quality and <5% yield loss after precipitation were observed while the residual PAA was <9 ppm. These results expand the toolbox in downstream purification to solve HCP clearance issues for programs with purification challenges, while also providing important insights into the integration of precipitation-depth filtration and the current platform process for the purification of biologics.

Conserved Sequence Preferences Contribute to Substrate Recognition by the Proteasome.

The proteasome has pronounced preferences for the amino acid sequence of its substrates at the site where it initiates degradation. Here, we report that modulating these sequences can tune the steady-state abundance of proteins over 2 orders of magnitude in cells. This is the same dynamic range as seen for inducing ubiquitination through a classic N-end rule degron. The stability and abundance of His3 constructs dictated by the initiation site affect survival of yeast cells and show that variation in proteasomal initiation can affect fitness. The proteasome's sequence preferences are linked directly to the affinity of the initiation sites to their receptor on the proteasome and are conserved between Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and human cells. These findings establish that the sequence composition of unstructured initiation sites influences protein abundance in vivo in an evolutionarily conserved manner and can affect phenotype and fitness.

A Rapid and Versatile Method for Generating Proteins with Defined Ubiquitin Chains.

Ubiquitin and polyubiquitin chains target proteins for a wide variety of cellular processes. Ubiquitin-mediated targeting is regulated by the lysine through which the ubiquitins are linked as well as the broader ubiquitin landscape on the protein. The mechanisms of this regulation are not fully understood. For example, the canonical proteasome targeting signal is a lysine 48-linked polyubiquitin chain, and the canonical endocytosis signal is a lysine 63-linked polyubiquitin chain. However, lysine 63-linked polyubiquitin chains can also target substrates for degradation. Biochemical studies of ubiquitinated proteins have been limited by the difficulty of building proteins with well-defined polyubiquitin chains. Here we describe an efficient and versatile method for synthesizing ubiquitin chains of defined linkage and length. The synthesized ubiquitin chains are then attached to any protein containing a ubiquitin moiety. These proteins can be used to study ubiquitin targeting in in vitro assays in the tightly controlled manner required for biochemical studies.

Top-down 193-nm ultraviolet photodissociation mass spectrometry for simultaneous determination of polyubiquitin chain length and topology.

Protein ubiquitin modifications present a vexing analytical challenge, because of the dynamic changes in the site of modification on the substrate, the number of ubiquitin moieties attached, and the diversity of linkage patterns in which they are attached. Presented here is a method to confidently assign size and linkage type of polyubiquitin modifications. The method combines intact mass measurement to determine the number of ubiquitin moieties in the chain with backbone fragmentation by 193-nm ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) to determine the linkage pattern. UVPD fragmentation of proteins leads to reproducible backbone cleavage at almost every inter-residue position, and in polyubiquitin chains, the N-terminally derived fragments from each constituent monomer are identical, up to the site of conjugation. The N-terminal ubiquitin fragment ions are superimposed to create a diagnostic pattern that allows easy recognition of the dominant chain linkages. The method is demonstrated by achieving almost-complete fragmentation of monoubiquitin and then, subsequently, fragmentation of dimeric, tetrameric, and longer Lys48- and Lys63-linked ubiquitin chains. The utility of the method for the analysis of mixed linkage chains is confirmed for mixtures of Lys48 and Lys63 tetramers with known relative concentrations and for an in vitro-formulated ubiquitin chain attached to a substrate protein.

Identification and characterization of a residual host cell protein hexosaminidase B associated with N-glycan degradation during the stability study of a therapeutic recombinant monoclonal antibody product.

Host cell proteins (HCPs) are process-related impurities derived from host organisms, which need to be controlled to ensure adequate product quality and safety. In this study, product quality attributes were tracked for several monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) under the intended storage and accelerated stability conditions. One product quality attribute not expected to be stability indicating is the N-glycan heterogeneity profile. However, significant N-glycan degradation was observed for one mAb under accelerated and stressed stability conditions. The root cause for this instability was attributed to hexosaminidase B (HEXB), an enzyme known to remove terminal N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). HEXB was identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based proteomics approach to be enriched in the impacted stability batches from mAb-1. Subsequently, enzymatic and targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) MS assays were developed to support process and product characterization. A potential interaction between HEXB and mAb-1 was initially observed from the analysis of process intermediates by proteomics among several mAbs and later supported by computational modeling. An improved bioprocess was developed to significantly reduce HEXB levels in the final drug substance. A risk assessment was conducted by evaluating the in silico immunogenicity risk and the impact on product quality. To the best of our knowledge, HEXB is the first residual HCP reported to have impact on the glycan profile of a formulated drug product. The combination of different analytical tools, mass spectrometry, and computational modeling provides a general strategy on how to study residual HCP for biotherapeutics development.

The proteasome 19S cap and its ubiquitin receptors provide a versatile recognition platform for substrates.

Proteins are targeted to the proteasome by the attachment of ubiquitin chains, which are markedly varied in structure. Three proteasome subunits-Rpn10, Rpn13, and Rpn1-can recognize ubiquitin chains. Here we report that proteins with single chains of K48-linked ubiquitin are targeted for degradation almost exclusively through binding to Rpn10. Rpn1 can act as a co-receptor with Rpn10 for K63 chains and for certain other chain types. Differences in targeting do not correlate with chain affinity to receptors. Surprisingly, in steady-state assays Rpn13 retarded degradation of various single-chain substrates. Substrates with multiple short ubiquitin chains can be presented for degradation by any of the known receptors, whereas those targeted to the proteasome through a ubiquitin-like domain are degraded most efficiently when bound by Rpn13 or Rpn1. Thus, the proteasome provides an unexpectedly versatile binding platform that can recognize substrates targeted for degradation by ubiquitin chains differing greatly in length and topology.

Scalable In Vitro Proteasome Activity Assay.

We developed a degradation assay based on fluorescent protein substrates that are efficiently recognized, unfolded, translocated, and hydrolyzed by the proteasome. The substrates consist of three components: a proteasome-binding tag, a folded domain, and an initiation region. All the components of the model substrate can be changed to modulate degradation, and the assay can be performed in parallel in 384-well plates. These properties allow the assay to be used to explore a wide range of experimental conditions and to screen proteasome modulators.

Mutant versions of the S. cerevisiae transcription elongation factor Spt16 define regions of Spt16 that functionally interact with histone H3.

In eukaryotic cells, the highly conserved FACT (FAcilitates Chromatin Transcription) complex plays important roles in several chromatin-based processes including transcription initiation and elongation. During transcription elongation, the FACT complex interacts directly with nucleosomes to facilitate histone removal upon RNA polymerase II (Pol II) passage and assists in the reconstitution of nucleosomes following Pol II passage. Although the contribution of the FACT complex to the process of transcription elongation has been well established, the mechanisms that govern interactions between FACT and chromatin still remain to be fully elucidated. Using the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system, we provide evidence that the middle domain of the FACT subunit Spt16--the Spt16-M domain--is involved in functional interactions with histone H3. Our results show that the Spt16-M domain plays a role in the prevention of cryptic intragenic transcription during transcription elongation and also suggest that the Spt16-M domain has a function in regulating dissociation of Spt16 from chromatin at the end of the transcription process. We also provide evidence for a role for the extreme carboxy terminus of Spt16 in functional interactions with histone H3. Taken together, our studies point to previously undescribed roles for the Spt16 M-domain and extreme carboxy terminus in regulating interactions between Spt16 and chromatin during the process of transcription elongation.