Designed chimaeric galactosyl–mimodye ligands for the purification of Pseudomonas fluorescens β-galactose dehydrogenase

The affinity concept in bioseparation: Evolving paradigms and expanding range of applications

The meaning of the word affinity in the context of protein separation has undergone evolutionary changes over the years. The exploitation of molecular recognition phenomenon is no longer limited to affinity chromatography modes. Affinity based separations today include precipitation, membrane based purification and two-phase/three-phase extractions. Apart from the affinity ligands, which have biological relationship (in vivo) with the target protein, a variety of other ligands are now used in the affinity based separations. These include dyes, chelated metal ions, peptides obtained by phage display technology, combinatorial synthesis, ribosome display methods and by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Molecular modeling techniques have also facilitated the designing of biomimetic ligands. Fusion proteins obtained by recombinatorial methods have emerged as a powerful approach in bioseparation. Overexpression in E. coli often result in inactive and insoluble inclusion bodies. A number of interesting approaches are used for simultaneous refolding and purification in such cases. Proteomics also needs affinity chromatography to reduce the complexity of the system before analysis by electrophoresis and mass spectrometry are made. At industrial level, validation, biosafety and process hygiene are also important aspects. This overview looks at these evolving paradigms and various strategies which utilize affinity phenomenon for protein separations.

Affinity chromatography matures as bioinformatic and combinatorial tools develop

Affinity chromatography has the reputation of a more expensive and less robust than other types of liquid chromatography. Furthermore, the technique is considered to stand a modest chance of large-scale purification of proteinaceous pharmaceuticals. This perception is changing because of the pressure for quality protein therapeutics, and the realization that higher returns can be expected when ensuring fewer purification steps and increased product recovery. These developments necessitated a rethinking of the protein purification processes and restored the interest for affinity chromatography. This liquid chromatography technique is designed to offer high specificity, being able to safely guide protein manufactures to successfully cope with the aforementioned challenges. Affinity ligands are distinguished into synthetic and biological. These can be generated by rational design or selected from ligand libraries. Synthetic ligands are generated by three methods. The rational method features the functional approach and the structural template approach. The combinatorial method relies on the selection of ligands from a library of synthetic ligands synthesized randomly. The combined method employs both methods, that is, the ligand is selected from an intentionally biased library based on a rationally designed ligand. Biological ligands are selected by employing high-throughput biological techniques, e.g. phage- and ribosome-display for peptide and microprotein ligands, in addition to SELEX for oligonucleotide ligands. Synthetic mimodyes and chimaeric dye-ligands are usually designed by rational approaches and comprise a chloro-triazinlyl scaffold. The latter substituted with various amino acids, carbocyclic, and heterocyclic groups, generates libraries from which synthetic ligands can be selected. A 'lead' compound may help to generating a 'focused' or 'biased' library. This can be designed by various approaches, e.g.: (i) using a natural ligand-protein complex as a template; (ii) applying the principle of complementarity to exposed residues of the protein structure; and (iii) mimicking directly a natural biological recognition interaction. Affinity ligands, based on the peptide structure, can be peptides, peptide-mimetic derivatives (<30 monomers) and microproteins (e.g. 25-200 monomers). Microprotein ligands are selected from biological libraries constructed of variegated protein domains, e.g. minibody, Kunitz, tendamist, cellulose-binding domain, scFv, Cytb562, zinc-finger, SpA-analogue (Z-domain).

Interaction of l-glutamate oxidase with triazine dyes: selection of ligands for affinity chromatography

Glutamate oxidase (GOX, EC 1.4.3.11) from Streptomyces catalyses the oxidation of L-glutamate to alpha-ketoglutarate. Its kinetic constants for L-glutamate were measured equal to 2 mM for Km and 85.8 s(-1) for kcat. BLAST search and amino acid sequence alignments revealed low homology to other L-amino acid oxidases (18-38%). Threading methodology, homology modeling and CASTp analysis resulted in certain conclusions concerning the structure of catalytic alpha-subunit and led to the prediction of a binding pocket that provides favorable conditions of accommodating negatively charged aromatic ligands, such as sulphonated triazine dyes. Eleven commercial textile dyes and four biomimetic dyes or minodyes, bearing a ketocarboxylated-structure as their terminal biomimetic moiety, immobilized on cross-linked agarose gel. The resulted mini-library of affinity adsorbents was screened for binding and eluting L-glutamate oxidase activity. All but Cibacron Blue 3GA (CB3GA) affinity adsorbents were able to bind GOX at pH 5.6. One immobilized minodye-ligand, bearing as its terminal biomimetic moiety p-aminobenzyloxanylic acid (BM1), displayed the higher affinity for GOX. Kinetic inhibition studies showed that BM1 inhibits GOX in a non-competitive manner with a Ki of 10.5 microM, indicating that the dye-enzyme interaction does not involve the substrate-binding site. Adsorption equilibrium data, obtained from a batch system with BM1 adsorbent, corresponded well to the Freundlich isotherm with a rate constant k of 2.7 mg(1/2)ml(1/2)/g and Freundlich isotherm exponent n of 1. The interaction of GOX with the BM1 adsorbent was further studied with regards to adsorption and elution conditions. The results obtained were exploited in the development of a facile purification protocol for GOX, which led to 335-fold purification in a single step with high enzyme recovery (95%). The present purification procedure is the most efficient reported so far for L-glutamate oxidase.