1
|
Duan Y, Zhang X, Zhai W, Zhang J, Zhang X, Xu G, Li H, Deng Z, Shi J, Xu Z. Deciphering the Rules of Ribosome Binding Site Differentiation in Context Dependence. ACS Synth Biol 2022; 11:2726-2740. [PMID: 35877551 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The ribosome binding site (RBS) is a crucial element regulating translation. However, the activity of RBS is poorly predictable, because it is strongly affected by the local possible secondary structure, that is, context dependence. By the Flowseq technique, over 20 000 RBS variants were sorted and sequenced, and the translation of multiple genes under the same RBS was quantitatively characterized to evaluate the context dependence of each RBS variant in E. coli. Two regions, (-7 to -2) and (-17 to -12), of RBS were predicted with a higher possibility to pair with each other to slow down the translation initiation. Associations between phenotypes and the intrinsic factors suspected to affect translation efficiency and context dependence of the RBS, including nucleotide bias at each position, free energy, and conservation, were disentangled. The results showed that translation efficiency was influenced more significantly by conservation of the SD region (-16 to -8), while an AC-rich spacer region (-7 to -1) was associated with low context dependence. We confirmed these characteristics using a series of synthesized RBSs. The average correlation between multiple reporters was significantly higher for RBSs with an AC-rich spacer (0.714) compared with a GU-rich spacer (0.286). Overall, we proposed general design criteria to improve programmability and minimize context dependence of RBS. The characteristics unraveled here can be adapted to other bacteria for fine-tuning target-gene expression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yanting Duan
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xiaojuan Zhang
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Weiji Zhai
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Jinpeng Zhang
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xiaomei Zhang
- School of Life Science and Health Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Bioactive Products Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Guoqiang Xu
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Hui Li
- School of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Zhaohong Deng
- School of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Jinsong Shi
- School of Life Science and Health Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Bioactive Products Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Zhenghong Xu
- Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China.,National Engineering Research Center for Cereal Fermentation and Food Biomanufacturing, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zhang CYC, Zhao SQ, Zhang SL, Luo LH, Liu DC, Ding WH, Fu DJ, Deng XD, Yin DC. Database Study on the Expression and Purification of Membrane Proteins. Protein Pept Lett 2021; 28:972-982. [PMID: 33858308 DOI: 10.2174/0929866528666210415120234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Membrane proteins are crucial for biological processes, and many of them are important to drug targets. Understanding the three-dimensional structures of membrane proteins are essential to evaluate their bio function and drug design. High-purity membrane proteins are important for structural determination. Membrane proteins have low yields and are difficult to purify because they tend to aggregate. We summarized membrane protein expression systems, vectors, tags, and detergents, which have deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) in recent four-and-a-half years. Escherichia coli is the most expression system for membrane proteins, and HEK293 cells are the most commonly cell lines for human membrane protein expression. The most frequently vectors are pFastBac1 for alpha-helical membrane proteins, pET28a for beta-barrel membrane proteins, and pTRC99a for monotopic membrane proteins. The most used tag for membrane proteins is the 6×His-tag. FLAG commonly used for alpha-helical membrane proteins, Strep and GST for beta-barrel and monotopic membrane proteins, respectively. The detergents and their concentrations used for alpha-helical, beta-barrel, and monotopic membrane proteins are different, and DDM is commonly used for membrane protein purification. It can guide the expression and purification of membrane proteins, thus contributing to their structure and bio function studying.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Yan China Zhang
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Shi-Qi Zhao
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Shi-Long Zhang
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Li-Heng Luo
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Ding-Chang Liu
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Wei-Hang Ding
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Dong-Jie Fu
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Xu-Dong Deng
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| | - Da-Chuan Yin
- Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, Shaanxi. China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Duan Y, Zhai W, Liu W, Zhang X, Shi JS, Zhang X, Xu Z. Fine-Tuning Multi-Gene Clusters via Well-Characterized Gene Expression Regulatory Elements: Case Study of the Arginine Synthesis Pathway in C. glutamicum. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:38-48. [PMID: 33382575 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Promoters and ribosome binding sites (RBSs) are routinely applied in gene expression regulation, but their orthogonality and combinatorial effects have not yet been systematically studied in Corynebacterium glutamicum. Here, 17 core promoters and 29 RBSs in C. glutamicum were characterized, which exhibited 470-fold and 430-fold in transcriptional and translational activity, respectively. By comparing the expression of two reporter genes regulated by multiple RBSs, the RBS efficacy showed significant dependence on the gene context, besides the RBSs' strength, reflecting the poor orthogonality of RBSs. Bicistron-modified RBS (referred as bc-RBS) was adapted to C. glutamicum, which improved RBS reliability. By coupling a series of promoters with RBSs/bc-RBSs, a much broader regulation range that spanned 4 orders of magnitude was observed compared with that of a sole element, and the contribution to gene expression of RBS was more than that of promoter. Finally, promoters and RBSs were applied as built-in elements to fine-tune the gene cluster in the arginine synthesis pathway in C. glutamicum. Compared with the original strain, more arginine (1.61-fold) or citrulline (2.35-fold) was accumulated in a 7 L bioreactor by strains with the gene expression regulation system rationally engineered. We demonstrated that, via combination of well-characterized gene elements, and overall consideration for both transcription and translation, the biosynthesis pathway can be effectively balanced, and the yield of a target metabolite can be further improved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yanting Duan
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Weiji Zhai
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Weijia Liu
- Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xiaomei Zhang
- School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Bioactive Products Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Jin-Song Shi
- School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Jiangsu Engineering Research Center for Bioactive Products Processing Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xiaojuan Zhang
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Zhenghong Xu
- National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
- Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Konczal J, Bower J, Gray CH. Re-introducing non-optimal synonymous codons into codon-optimized constructs enhances soluble recovery of recombinant proteins from Escherichia coli. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0215892. [PMID: 31013332 PMCID: PMC6478350 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene synthesis services have largely superseded traditional PCR methods for the generation of cDNAs destined for bacterial expression vectors. This, in turn, has increased the application of codon-optimized cDNAs where codons rarely used by Escherchia coli are replaced with common synonymous codons to accelerate translation of the target. A markedly accelerated rate of expression often results in a significant uplift in the levels of target protein but a substantial proportion of the enhanced yield can partition to the insoluble fraction rendering a significant portion of the gains unavailable for native purification. We have assessed several expression attenuation strategies for their utility in the manipulation of the soluble fraction towards higher levels of soluble target recovery from codon optimized systems. Using a set of human small GTPases as a case study, we compare the degeneration of the T7 promoter sequence, the use of alternative translational start codons and the manipulation of synonymous codon usage. Degeneration of both the T7 promoter and the translational start codon merely depressed overall expression and did not increase the percentage of product recovered in native purification of the soluble fraction. However, the selective introduction of rare non-optimal codons back into the codon-optimized sequence resulted in significantly elevated recovery of soluble targets. We propose that slowing the rate of extension during translation using a small number of rare codons allows more time for the co-translational folding of the nascent polypeptide. This increases the proportion of the target recovered in the soluble fraction by immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC). Thus, a "de-optimization" of codon-optimized cDNAs, to attenuate or pause the translation process, may prove a useful strategy for improved recombinant protein production.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Konczal
- Drug Discovery Program, CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Justin Bower
- Drug Discovery Program, CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Yang Y, Shen W, Huang J, Li R, Xiao Y, Wei H, Chou YC, Zhang M, Himmel ME, Chen S, Yi L, Ma L, Yang S. Prediction and characterization of promoters and ribosomal binding sites of Zymomonas mobilis in system biology era. BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS 2019; 12:52. [PMID: 30911332 PMCID: PMC6417218 DOI: 10.1186/s13068-019-1399-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Zymomonas mobilis is a model bacterial ethanologen with many systems biology studies reported. Besides lignocellulosic ethanol production, Z. mobilis has been developed as a platform for biochemical production through metabolic engineering. However, identification and rigorous understanding of the genetic origins of cellular function, especially those based in non-coding region of DNA, such as promoters and ribosomal binding sites (RBSs), are still in its infancy. This knowledge is crucial for the effective application of Z. mobilis to new industrial applications of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals production. RESULTS In this study, we explored the possibility to systematically predict the strength of promoters based on systems biology datasets. The promoter strength was clustered based on the expression values of downstream genes (or proteins) from systems biology studies including microarray, RNA-Seq and proteomics. Candidate promoters with different strengths were selected for further characterization, which include 19 strong, nine medium, and ten weak ones. A dual reporter-gene system was developed which included appropriate reporter genes. These are the opmCherry reporter gene driven by the constitutive PlacUV5 promoter for calibration, and EGFP reporter gene driven by candidate promoters for quantification. This dual reporter-gene system was confirmed using the inducible promoter, Ptet, which was used to determine the strength of these predicted promoters with different strengths. In addition, the dual reporter-gene system was applied to determine four synthetic RBSs with different translation initiation rates based on the prediction from bioinformatics server RBS calculator. Our results showed that the correlations between the prediction and experimental results for the promoter and RBS strength are relatively high, with R 2 values more than 0.7 and 0.9, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This study not only identified and characterized 38 promoters and four RBSs with different strengths for future metabolic engineering in Z. mobilis, but also established a flow cytometry-based dual reporter-gene system to characterize genetic elements including, but not limited to the promoters and RBSs studied in this work. This study also suggested the feasibility of predicting and selecting candidate genetic elements based on omics datasets and bioinformatics tools. Moreover, the dual reporter-gene system developed in this study can be utilized to characterize other genetic elements of Z. mobilis, which can also be applied to other microorganisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yongfu Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Wei Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Ju Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Runxia Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Yubei Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Hui Wei
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401 USA
| | - Yat-Chen Chou
- National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401 USA
| | - Min Zhang
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401 USA
| | - Michael E. Himmel
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401 USA
| | - Shouwen Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Li Yi
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Lixin Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| | - Shihui Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Environmental Microbial Technology Center of Hubei Province, and School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062 China
| |
Collapse
|