1
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Karagöl A, Karagöl T, Smorodina E, Zhang S. Structural bioinformatics studies of glutamate transporters and their AlphaFold2 predicted water-soluble QTY variants and uncovering the natural mutations of L->Q, I->T, F->Y and Q->L, T->I and Y->F. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0289644. [PMID: 38598436 PMCID: PMC11006163 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Glutamate transporters play key roles in nervous physiology by modulating excitatory neurotransmitter levels, when malfunctioning, involving in a wide range of neurological and physiological disorders. However, integral transmembrane proteins including the glutamate transporters remain notoriously difficult to study, due to their localization within the cell membrane. Here we present the structural bioinformatics studies of glutamate transporters and their water-soluble variants generated through QTY-code, a protein design strategy based on systematic amino acid substitutions. These include 2 structures determined by X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and 6 predicted by AlphaFold2, and their predicted water-soluble QTY variants. In the native structures of glutamate transporters, transmembrane helices contain hydrophobic amino acids such as leucine (L), isoleucine (I), and phenylalanine (F). To design water-soluble variants, these hydrophobic amino acids are systematically replaced by hydrophilic amino acids, namely glutamine (Q), threonine (T) and tyrosine (Y). The QTY variants exhibited water-solubility, with four having identical isoelectric focusing points (pI) and the other four having very similar pI. We present the superposed structures of the native glutamate transporters and their water-soluble QTY variants. The superposed structures displayed remarkable similarity with RMSD 0.528Å-2.456Å, despite significant protein transmembrane sequence differences (41.1%->53.8%). Additionally, we examined the differences of hydrophobicity patches between the native glutamate transporters and their QTY variants. Upon closer inspection, we discovered multiple natural variations of L->Q, I->T, F->Y and Q->L, T->I, Y->F in these transporters. Some of these natural variations were benign and the remaining were reported in specific neurological disorders. We further investigated the characteristics of hydrophobic to hydrophilic substitutions in glutamate transporters, utilizing variant analysis and evolutionary profiling. Our structural bioinformatics studies not only provided insight into the differences between the hydrophobic helices and hydrophilic helices in the glutamate transporters, but they are also expected to stimulate further study of other water-soluble transmembrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alper Karagöl
- Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Taner Karagöl
- Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Eva Smorodina
- Laboratory for Computational and Systems Immunology, Department of Immunology, University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Shuguang Zhang
- Laboratory of Molecular Architecture, Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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2
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Körfer G, Besirlioglu V, Davari MD, Martinez R, Vojcic L, Schwaneberg U. Combinatorial InVitroFlow-assisted Mutagenesis (CombIMut) yields a 41-fold improved CelA2 cellulase. Biotechnol Bioeng 2022; 119:2076-2087. [PMID: 35451061 DOI: 10.1002/bit.28110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2021] [Revised: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The combination of diversity generation methods and ultrahigh-throughput screening (uHTS) technologies is key to efficiently explore nature's sequence space and elucidate structure-function relationships of enzymes. Beneficial substitutions often cluster in a few regions and simultaneous amino acid substitutions at multiple positions (e.g., by OmniChange) will likely lead to further improved enzyme variants. An extensive screening effort is required to identify such variants, as the simultaneous randomization of four codons can easily yield over 105 potential enzyme variants. The combination of flow cytometer-based uHTS with cell-free compartmentalization technology using (w/o/w) double emulsions (InVitroFlow), provides analysis capabilities of up to 107 events per hour, thus enabling efficient screening. InVitroFlow is an elegant solution since diversity loss through a transformation of host cells is omitted and emulsion compartments provide a genotype-phenotype linkage through a fluorescence readout. In this work, a multi-site saturation mutagenesis (mSSM) and an OmniChange library with four simultaneously saturated positions in the active site of CelA2 cellulase were screened using InVitroFlow. Screening of over 36 million events, yielded a significantly improved cellulase variant CelA2-M3 (H288F/H524Q) with an 8-fold increase in specific activity compared to the parent CelA2-H288F (83.9 U/mg) and a 41-fold increased specific activity (674.5 U/mg) compared to wildtype CelA2 (16.6 U/mg) for the substrate 4-MUC (4-methylumbelliferyl-β D-cellobioside). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgette Körfer
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, D-52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Volkan Besirlioglu
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, D-52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Mehdi D Davari
- Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Weinberg 3, 06120, Halle, Germany
| | - Ronny Martinez
- Universidad de La Serena, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Av. Raúl Bitrán 1305, 1720010, La Serena, Chile
| | - Ljubica Vojcic
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, D-52074, Aachen, Germany.,Current address: Codexis Inc., 200 Penobscot Drive, Redwood City, CA, 94063, USA
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, D-52074, Aachen, Germany.,DWI an der RWTH Aachen e.V, Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52056, Aachen, Germany
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3
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Alejaldre L, Pelletier JN, Quaglia D. Methods for enzyme library creation: Which one will you choose?: A guide for novices and experts to introduce genetic diversity. Bioessays 2021; 43:e2100052. [PMID: 34263468 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Enzyme engineering allows to explore sequence diversity in search for new properties. The scientific literature is populated with methods to create enzyme libraries for engineering purposes, however, choosing a suitable method for the creation of mutant libraries can be daunting, in particular for the novices. Here, we address both novices and experts: how can one enter the arena of enzyme library design and what guidelines can advanced users apply to select strategies best suited to their purpose? Section I is dedicated to the novices and presents an overview of established and standard methods for library creation, as well as available commercial solutions. The expert will discover an up-to-date tool to freshen up their repertoire (Section I) and learn of the newest methods that are likely to become a mainstay (Section II). We focus primarily on in vitro methods, presenting the advantages of each method. Our ultimate aim is to offer a selection of methods/strategies that we believe to be most useful to the enzyme engineer, whether a first-timer or a seasoned user.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorea Alejaldre
- Département de biochimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.,PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, Quebec, Canada
| | - Joelle N Pelletier
- Département de biochimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.,PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, Quebec, Canada.,Département de chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Daniela Quaglia
- Département de chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada.,School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
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4
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Ye B, Li Y, Tao Q, Yao X, Cheng M, Yan X. Random Mutagenesis by Insertion of Error-Prone PCR Products to the Chromosome of Bacillus subtilis. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:570280. [PMID: 33281764 PMCID: PMC7691275 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.570280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis is an attractive host for the directed evolution of the enzymes whose substrates cannot be transported across cell membrane. However, the generation of a mutant library in B. subtilis suffers problems of small library size, plasmid instability, and heterozygosity. Here, a large library of random mutant was created by inserting error-prone PCR (epPCR) products to the chromosome of B. subtilis. Specifically, the epPCR product was fused with flanking regions and antibiotic resistant marker using a PCR-based multimerization method, generating insertion construct. The epPCR product was integrated into the chromosome via homologous recombination after the insertion construct was transformed into the supercompetent cells of B. subtilis strain SCK6. The transformation efficiency of the insertion construct was improved through co-expressing homologous recombination-promoting protein NgAgo, raising the number of competent cells, and increasing the length of flanking regions. A library containing 5.31 × 105 random mutants was constructed using per μg insertion construct, which is sufficient for directed evolution. The library generation process was accomplished within 1 day. The effectiveness of this method was confirmed by improving the activity of Methyl Parathion Hydrolase (MPH) toward chlorpyrifos and by enhancing the secretion level of MPH in B. subtilis. Taken together, the present work provides a fast and efficient method to integrate epPCR products into the chromosome of B. subtilis, facilitating directed evolution and expression optimization of target proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Xin Yan
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environmental Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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5
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Quaglia D, Alejaldre L, Ouadhi S, Rousseau O, Pelletier JN. Holistic engineering of Cal-A lipase chain-length selectivity identifies triglyceride binding hot-spot. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0210100. [PMID: 30640952 PMCID: PMC6331120 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Through the application of a region-focused saturation mutagenesis and randomization approach, protein engineering of the Cal-A enzyme was undertaken with the goal of conferring new triglyceride selectivity. Little is known about the mode of triglyceride binding to Cal-A. Engineering Cal-A thus requires a systemic approach. Targeted and randomized Cal-A libraries were created, recombined using the Golden Gate approach and screened to detect variants able to discriminate between long-chain (olive oil) and short-chain (tributyrin) triglyceride substrates using a high-throughput in vivo method to visualize hydrolytic activity. Discriminative variants were analyzed using an in-house script to identify predominant substitutions. This approach allowed identification of variants that exhibit strong discrimination for the hydrolysis of short-chain triglycerides and others that discriminate towards hydrolysis of long-chain triglycerides. A clear pattern emerged from the discriminative variants, identifying the 217–245 helix-loop-helix motif as being a hot-spot for triglyceride recognition. This was the consequence of introducing the entire mutational load in selected regions, without putting a strain on distal parts of the protein. Our results improve our understanding of the Cal-A lipase mode of action and selectivity. This holistic perspective to protein engineering, where parts of the gene are individually mutated and the impact evaluated in the context of the whole protein, can be applied to any protein scaffold.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Quaglia
- Département de Chimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Lorea Alejaldre
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Sara Ouadhi
- Département de Chimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Olivier Rousseau
- Département de Chimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Joelle N. Pelletier
- Département de Chimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- * E-mail:
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6
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Integrating enzyme immobilization and protein engineering: An alternative path for the development of novel and improved industrial biocatalysts. Biotechnol Adv 2018; 36:1470-1480. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2018.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 168] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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7
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Ensari Y, Dhoke GV, Davari MD, Ruff AJ, Schwaneberg U. A Comparative Reengineering Study of cpADH5 through Iterative and Simultaneous Multisite Saturation Mutagenesis. Chembiochem 2018; 19:1563-1569. [DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201800159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yunus Ensari
- Lehrstuhl für BiotechnologieRWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 3 52074 Aachen Germany
- Kafkas UniversityFaculty of Engineering and ArchitectureDepartment of Bioengineering 36100 Kars Turkey
| | - Gaurao V. Dhoke
- Lehrstuhl für BiotechnologieRWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 3 52074 Aachen Germany
| | - Mehdi D. Davari
- Lehrstuhl für BiotechnologieRWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 3 52074 Aachen Germany
| | - Anna Joëlle Ruff
- Lehrstuhl für BiotechnologieRWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 3 52074 Aachen Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Lehrstuhl für BiotechnologieRWTH Aachen University Worringerweg 3 52074 Aachen Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institut für Interaktive Materialien Forckenbeckstrasse 50 52056 Aachen Germany
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8
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Fulton A, Hayes MR, Schwaneberg U, Pietruszka J, Jaeger KE. High-Throughput Screening Assays for Lipolytic Enzymes. Methods Mol Biol 2018; 1685:209-231. [PMID: 29086311 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7366-8_12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Screening is defined as the identification of hits within a large library of variants of an enzyme or protein with a predefined property. In theory, each variant present in the respective library needs to be assayed; however, to save time and consumables, many screening regimes involve a primary round to identify clones producing active enzymes. Such primary or prescreenings for lipolytic enzyme activity are often carried out on agar plates containing pH indicators or substrates as triolein or tributyrin. Subsequently, high-throughput screening assays are usually performed in microtiter plate (MTP) format using chromogenic or fluorogenic substrates and, if available, automated liquid handling robotics. Here, we describe different assay systems to determine the activity and enantioselectivity of lipases and esterases as well as the synthesis of several substrates. We also report on the construction of a complete site saturation library derived from lipase A of Bacillus subtilis and its testing for detergent tolerance. This approach allows for the identification of amino acids affecting sensitivity or resistance against different detergents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Fulton
- Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology, Heinrich-Heine - Universität Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52426, Jülich, Germany
- Novozymes A/S, Krogshoejvej 36, 2880, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
| | - Marc R Hayes
- Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine - Universität Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52426, Jülich, Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials at RWTH Aachen University, 52056, Aachen, Germany
| | - Jörg Pietruszka
- Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine - Universität Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52426, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences IBG-1: Biotechnology, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52428, Jülich, Germany
| | - Karl-Erich Jaeger
- Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology, Heinrich-Heine - Universität Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52426, Jülich, Germany.
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences IBG-1: Biotechnology, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52428, Jülich, Germany.
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9
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Ebert MCCJC, Guzman Espinola J, Lamoureux G, Pelletier JN. Substrate-Specific Screening for Mutational Hotspots Using Biased Molecular Dynamics Simulations. ACS Catal 2017. [DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.7b02634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian C. C. J. C. Ebert
- Département
de Biochimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec
Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Joaquin Guzman Espinola
- Département
de Biochimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec
Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Guillaume Lamoureux
- PROTEO, The Québec
Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
- Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Centre for Research in Molecular
Modeling (CERMM), Concordia University, Montréal, QC H4B 1R6, Canada
| | - Joelle N. Pelletier
- Département
de Biochimie and Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec
Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
- Département
de Chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
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10
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Lu J, Dong Y, Ng EC, Siehl DL. Novel form of the Michaelis-Menten equation that enables accurate estimation of (kcat/KM)*KI with just two rate measurements; utility in directed evolution. Protein Eng Des Sel 2017; 30:395-399. [PMID: 28338799 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzx012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2016] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
One of applications of directed evolution is to desensitize an enzyme to an inhibitor. kcat,1/KM and KI are three dimensions that when multiplied measure an enzyme's intrinsic capacity for catalysis in the presence of an inhibitor. The ideal values for the individual dimensions depend on substrate and inhibitor concentrations under the conditions of the application. When attempting to optimize those values by directed evolution, (kcat/KM)*KI can be an informative parameter for evaluating libraries of variants, but throughput is limited. We describe a manipulation of the Michaelis-Menten equation for competitive inhibition that isolates (kcat/KM)*KI on one side of the equation. If velocity is measured at constant enzyme and substrate concentrations with two different inhibitor concentrations (one of which can be 0), the data are sufficient to calculate (kcat/KM)*KI with just two rate measurements. The procedure is validated by correlating values obtained by the rapid method with those obtained by substrate saturation kinetics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Lu
- DuPont Pioneer, Hayward, CA 94545, USA
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11
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Quaglia D, Ebert MCCJC, Mugford PF, Pelletier JN. Enzyme engineering: A synthetic biology approach for more effective library generation and automated high-throughput screening. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0171741. [PMID: 28178357 PMCID: PMC5298319 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The Golden Gate strategy entails the use of type IIS restriction enzymes, which cut outside of their recognition sequence. It enables unrestricted design of unique DNA fragments that can be readily and seamlessly recombined. Successfully employed in other synthetic biology applications, we demonstrate its advantageous use to engineer a biocatalyst. Hot-spots for mutations were individuated in three distinct regions of Candida antarctica lipase A (Cal-A), the biocatalyst chosen as a target to demonstrate the versatility of this recombination method. The three corresponding gene segments were subjected to the most appropriate method of mutagenesis (targeted or random). Their straightforward reassembly allowed combining products of different mutagenesis methods in a single round for rapid production of a series of diverse libraries, thus facilitating directed evolution. Screening to improve discrimination of short-chain versus long-chain fatty acid substrates was aided by development of a general, automated method for visual discrimination of the hydrolysis of varied substrates by whole cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Quaglia
- Département de Chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Maximilian C. C. J. C. Ebert
- Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Paul F. Mugford
- DSM Nutritional Products, 101 Research Drive, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
| | - Joelle N. Pelletier
- Département de Chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- PROTEO, The Québec Network for Research on Protein Function, Engineering and Applications, Québec, QC, Canada
- Département de Biochimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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12
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Ashkenazy H, Abadi S, Martz E, Chay O, Mayrose I, Pupko T, Ben-Tal N. ConSurf 2016: an improved methodology to estimate and visualize evolutionary conservation in macromolecules. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 44:W344-50. [PMID: 27166375 PMCID: PMC4987940 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2020] [Impact Index Per Article: 252.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2016] [Accepted: 05/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The degree of evolutionary conservation of an amino acid in a protein or a nucleic acid in DNA/RNA reflects a balance between its natural tendency to mutate and the overall need to retain the structural integrity and function of the macromolecule. The ConSurf web server (http://consurf.tau.ac.il), established over 15 years ago, analyses the evolutionary pattern of the amino/nucleic acids of the macromolecule to reveal regions that are important for structure and/or function. Starting from a query sequence or structure, the server automatically collects homologues, infers their multiple sequence alignment and reconstructs a phylogenetic tree that reflects their evolutionary relations. These data are then used, within a probabilistic framework, to estimate the evolutionary rates of each sequence position. Here we introduce several new features into ConSurf, including automatic selection of the best evolutionary model used to infer the rates, the ability to homology-model query proteins, prediction of the secondary structure of query RNA molecules from sequence, the ability to view the biological assembly of a query (in addition to the single chain), mapping of the conservation grades onto 2D RNA models and an advanced view of the phylogenetic tree that enables interactively rerunning ConSurf with the taxa of a sub-tree.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haim Ashkenazy
- Department of Cell Research and Immunology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Shiran Abadi
- Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Eric Martz
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Ofer Chay
- Department of Cell Research and Immunology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Itay Mayrose
- Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Tal Pupko
- Department of Cell Research and Immunology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
| | - Nir Ben-Tal
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
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13
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Popova B, Schubert S, Bulla I, Buchwald D, Kramer W. A Robust and Versatile Method of Combinatorial Chemical Synthesis of Gene Libraries via Hierarchical Assembly of Partially Randomized Modules. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0136778. [PMID: 26355961 PMCID: PMC4565649 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 08/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A major challenge in gene library generation is to guarantee a large functional size and diversity that significantly increases the chances of selecting different functional protein variants. The use of trinucleotides mixtures for controlled randomization results in superior library diversity and offers the ability to specify the type and distribution of the amino acids at each position. Here we describe the generation of a high diversity gene library using tHisF of the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima as a scaffold. Combining various rational criteria with contingency, we targeted 26 selected codons of the thisF gene sequence for randomization at a controlled level. We have developed a novel method of creating full-length gene libraries by combinatorial assembly of smaller sub-libraries. Full-length libraries of high diversity can easily be assembled on demand from smaller and much less diverse sub-libraries, which circumvent the notoriously troublesome long-term archivation and repeated proliferation of high diversity ensembles of phages or plasmids. We developed a generally applicable software tool for sequence analysis of mutated gene sequences that provides efficient assistance for analysis of library diversity. Finally, practical utility of the library was demonstrated in principle by assessment of the conformational stability of library members and isolating protein variants with HisF activity from it. Our approach integrates a number of features of nucleic acids synthetic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular genetics to a coherent, flexible and robust method of combinatorial gene synthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blagovesta Popova
- Department Molecular Microbiology and Genetics, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department Molecular Genetics and Preparative Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Steffen Schubert
- Department Molecular Genetics and Preparative Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany
- Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK), Göttingen, Germany
| | - Ingo Bulla
- Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Group T-6, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America
- Institute for Mathematics and Informatics, Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- Department Bioinformatics, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Daniela Buchwald
- Department Bioinformatics, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Neurobiology Laboratory, German Primate Center GmbH, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Wilfried Kramer
- Department Molecular Genetics and Preparative Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Department Molecular Genetics, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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14
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Abstract
Mutagenesis Assistant Program (MAP) is a web-based statistical tool to develop directed evolution strategies by investigating the consequences at the amino acid level of the mutational biases of random mutagenesis methods on any given gene. The latest development of the program, the MAP(2.0)3D server, correlates the generated amino acid substitution patterns of a specific random mutagenesis method to the sequence and structural information of the target protein. The combined information can be used to select an experimental strategy that improves the chances of obtaining functionally efficient and/or stable enzyme variants. Hence, the MAP(2.0)3D server facilitates the "in silico" prescreening of the target gene by predicting the amino acid diversity generated in a random mutagenesis library. Here, we describe the features of MAP(2.0)3D server by analyzing, as an example, the cytochrome P450BM3 monooxygenase (CYP102A1). The MAP(2.0)3D server is available publicly at http://map.jacobs-university.de/map3d.html.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajni Verma
- Department of Chemistry, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, USA
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15
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Currin A, Swainston N, Day PJ, Kell DB. Synthetic biology for the directed evolution of protein biocatalysts: navigating sequence space intelligently. Chem Soc Rev 2015; 44:1172-239. [PMID: 25503938 PMCID: PMC4349129 DOI: 10.1039/c4cs00351a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 251] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The amino acid sequence of a protein affects both its structure and its function. Thus, the ability to modify the sequence, and hence the structure and activity, of individual proteins in a systematic way, opens up many opportunities, both scientifically and (as we focus on here) for exploitation in biocatalysis. Modern methods of synthetic biology, whereby increasingly large sequences of DNA can be synthesised de novo, allow an unprecedented ability to engineer proteins with novel functions. However, the number of possible proteins is far too large to test individually, so we need means for navigating the 'search space' of possible protein sequences efficiently and reliably in order to find desirable activities and other properties. Enzymologists distinguish binding (Kd) and catalytic (kcat) steps. In a similar way, judicious strategies have blended design (for binding, specificity and active site modelling) with the more empirical methods of classical directed evolution (DE) for improving kcat (where natural evolution rarely seeks the highest values), especially with regard to residues distant from the active site and where the functional linkages underpinning enzyme dynamics are both unknown and hard to predict. Epistasis (where the 'best' amino acid at one site depends on that or those at others) is a notable feature of directed evolution. The aim of this review is to highlight some of the approaches that are being developed to allow us to use directed evolution to improve enzyme properties, often dramatically. We note that directed evolution differs in a number of ways from natural evolution, including in particular the available mechanisms and the likely selection pressures. Thus, we stress the opportunities afforded by techniques that enable one to map sequence to (structure and) activity in silico, as an effective means of modelling and exploring protein landscapes. Because known landscapes may be assessed and reasoned about as a whole, simultaneously, this offers opportunities for protein improvement not readily available to natural evolution on rapid timescales. Intelligent landscape navigation, informed by sequence-activity relationships and coupled to the emerging methods of synthetic biology, offers scope for the development of novel biocatalysts that are both highly active and robust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Currin
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK . ; http://dbkgroup.org/; @dbkell ; Tel: +44 (0)161 306 4492
- School of Chemistry , The University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PL , UK
- Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals (SYNBIOCHEM) , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK
| | - Neil Swainston
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK . ; http://dbkgroup.org/; @dbkell ; Tel: +44 (0)161 306 4492
- Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals (SYNBIOCHEM) , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK
- School of Computer Science , The University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PL , UK
| | - Philip J. Day
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK . ; http://dbkgroup.org/; @dbkell ; Tel: +44 (0)161 306 4492
- Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals (SYNBIOCHEM) , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK
- Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences , The University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PT , UK
| | - Douglas B. Kell
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK . ; http://dbkgroup.org/; @dbkell ; Tel: +44 (0)161 306 4492
- School of Chemistry , The University of Manchester , Manchester M13 9PL , UK
- Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals (SYNBIOCHEM) , The University of Manchester , 131, Princess St , Manchester M1 7DN , UK
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16
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Engineering the ligninolytic enzyme consortium. Trends Biotechnol 2015; 33:155-62. [PMID: 25600621 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2014.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2014] [Revised: 12/06/2014] [Accepted: 12/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The ligninolytic enzyme consortium is one of the most-efficient oxidative systems found in nature, playing a pivotal role during wood decay and coal formation. Typically formed by high redox-potential oxidoreductases, this array of enzymes can be used within the emerging lignocellulose biorefineries in processes that range from the production of bioenergy to that of biomaterials. To ensure that these versatile enzymes meet industry standards and needs, they have been subjected to directed evolution and hybrid approaches that surpass the limits imposed by nature. This Opinion article analyzes recent achievements in this field, including the incipient groundbreaking research into the evolution of resurrected enzymes, and the engineering of ligninolytic secretomes to create consolidated bioprocessing microbes with synthetic biology applications.
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17
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Cheng F, Zhu L, Schwaneberg U. Directed evolution 2.0: improving and deciphering enzyme properties. Chem Commun (Camb) 2015; 51:9760-72. [DOI: 10.1039/c5cc01594d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
A KnowVolution: knowledge gaining directed evolution including four phases is proposed in this feature article, which generates improved enzyme variants and molecular understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Cheng
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie
- RWTH Aachen University
- 52074 Aachen
- Germany
| | - Leilei Zhu
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie
- RWTH Aachen University
- 52074 Aachen
- Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie
- RWTH Aachen University
- 52074 Aachen
- Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials
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18
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DC-Analyzer-facilitated combinatorial strategy for rapid directed evolution of functional enzymes with multiple mutagenesis sites. J Biotechnol 2014; 192 Pt A:102-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.10.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2014] [Revised: 10/10/2014] [Accepted: 10/14/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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19
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Kardashliev T, Ruff AJ, Zhao J, Schwaneberg U. A high-throughput screening method to reengineer DNA polymerases for random mutagenesis. Mol Biotechnol 2014; 56:274-83. [PMID: 24122281 DOI: 10.1007/s12033-013-9706-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
A screening system for directed evolution of DNA polymerases employing a fluorescent Scorpion probe as a reporter has been developed. The screening system has been validated in a directed evolution experiment of a distributive polymerase from the Y-polymerase family (Dpo4 from Sulfolobus solfataricus) which was improved in elongation efficiency of consecutive mismatches. The engineering campaign yielded improved Dpo4 polymerase variants one of which was successfully benchmarked in a sequence saturation mutagenesis experiment especially with regard to the desirable consecutive transversion mutations ([2.5-fold increase in frequency relative to a reference library prepared with Dpo4 WT). The Scorpion probe screening system enables to reengineer polymerases with low processivity and fidelity, and no secondary activities (i.e. exonuclease activity or strand displacement activity) to match demands in diversity generation for directed protein evolution.
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20
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Gonzalez-Perez D, Molina-Espeja P, Garcia-Ruiz E, Alcalde M. Mutagenic Organized Recombination Process by Homologous IN vivo Grouping (MORPHING) for directed enzyme evolution. PLoS One 2014; 9:e90919. [PMID: 24614282 PMCID: PMC3948698 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2013] [Accepted: 02/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Approaches that depend on directed evolution require reliable methods to generate DNA diversity so that mutant libraries can focus on specific target regions. We took advantage of the high frequency of homologous DNA recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to develop a strategy for domain mutagenesis aimed at introducing and in vivo recombining random mutations in defined segments of DNA. Mutagenic Organized Recombination Process by Homologous IN vivo Grouping (MORPHING) is a one-pot random mutagenic method for short protein regions that harnesses the in vivo recombination apparatus of yeast. Using this approach, libraries can be prepared with different mutational loads in DNA segments of less than 30 amino acids so that they can be assembled into the remaining unaltered DNA regions in vivo with high fidelity. As a proof of concept, we present two eukaryotic-ligninolytic enzyme case studies: i) the enhancement of the oxidative stability of a H2O2-sensitive versatile peroxidase by independent evolution of three distinct protein segments (Leu28-Gly57, Leu149-Ala174 and Ile199-Leu268); and ii) the heterologous functional expression of an unspecific peroxygenase by exclusive evolution of its native 43-residue signal sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Gonzalez-Perez
- Departmento de Biocatálisis, Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Patricia Molina-Espeja
- Departmento de Biocatálisis, Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Eva Garcia-Ruiz
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Miguel Alcalde
- Departmento de Biocatálisis, Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
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21
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Sebestova E, Bendl J, Brezovsky J, Damborsky J. Computational tools for designing smart libraries. Methods Mol Biol 2014; 1179:291-314. [PMID: 25055786 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1053-3_20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Traditional directed evolution experiments are often time-, labor- and cost-intensive because they involve repeated rounds of random mutagenesis and the selection or screening of large mutant libraries. The efficiency of directed evolution experiments can be significantly improved by targeting mutagenesis to a limited number of hot-spot positions and/or selecting a limited set of substitutions. The design of such "smart" libraries can be greatly facilitated by in silico analyses and predictions. Here we provide an overview of computational tools applicable for (a) the identification of hot-spots for engineering enzyme properties, and (b) the evaluation of predicted hot-spots and selection of suitable amino acids for substitutions. The selected tools do not require any specific expertise and can easily be implemented by the wider scientific community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Sebestova
- Loschmidt Laboratories, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5/A13, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic
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22
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Ruff AJ, Marienhagen J, Verma R, Roccatano D, Genieser HG, Niemann P, Shivange AV, Schwaneberg U. dRTP and dPTP a complementary nucleotide couple for the Sequence Saturation Mutagenesis (SeSaM) method. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molcatb.2012.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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23
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Verma R, Schwaneberg U, Roccatano D. Computer-Aided Protein Directed Evolution: a Review of Web Servers, Databases and other Computational Tools for Protein Engineering. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2012; 2:e201209008. [PMID: 24688649 PMCID: PMC3962222 DOI: 10.5936/csbj.201209008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2012] [Revised: 10/07/2012] [Accepted: 10/12/2012] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The combination of computational and directed evolution methods has proven a winning strategy for protein engineering. We refer to this approach as computer-aided protein directed evolution (CAPDE) and the review summarizes the recent developments in this rapidly growing field. We will restrict ourselves to overview the availability, usability and limitations of web servers, databases and other computational tools proposed in the last five years. The goal of this review is to provide concise information about currently available computational resources to assist the design of directed evolution based protein engineering experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajni Verma
- School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany ; Department of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Department of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Danilo Roccatano
- School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany
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24
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Wang C, Huang R, He B, Du Q. Improving the thermostability of alpha-amylase by combinatorial coevolving-site saturation mutagenesis. BMC Bioinformatics 2012; 13:263. [PMID: 23057711 PMCID: PMC3478181 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-13-263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2012] [Accepted: 09/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The generation of focused mutant libraries at hotspot residues is an important strategy in directed protein evolution. Existing methods, such as combinatorial active site testing and residual coupling analysis, depend primarily on the evolutionary conserved information to find the hotspot residues. Hardly any attention has been paid to another important functional and structural determinants, the functionally correlated variation information--coevolution. Results In this paper, we suggest a new method, named combinatorial coevolving-site saturation mutagenesis (CCSM), in which the functionally correlated variation sites of proteins are chosen as the hotspot sites to construct focused mutant libraries. The CCSM approach was used to improve the thermal stability of α-amylase from Bacillus subtilis CN7 (Amy7C). The results indicate that the CCSM can identify novel beneficial mutation sites, and enhance the thermal stability of wild-type Amy7C by 8°C (
T5030), which could not be achieved with the ordinarily rational introduction of single or a double point mutation. Conclusions Our method is able to produce more thermostable mutant α-amylases with novel beneficial mutations at new sites. It is also verified that the coevolving sites can be used as the hotspots to construct focused mutant libraries in protein engineering. This study throws new light on the active researches of the molecular coevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenghua Wang
- Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
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25
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Arunachalam TS, Wichert C, Appel B, Müller S. Mixed oligonucleotides for random mutagenesis: best way of making them. Org Biomol Chem 2012; 10:4641-50. [PMID: 22552713 DOI: 10.1039/c2ob25328c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The generation of proteins, especially enzymes, with pre-deliberated, novel properties is a big challenge in the field of protein engineering. This aim, over the years was critically facilitated by newly emerging methods of combinatorial and evolutionary techniques, such as combinatorial gene synthesis followed by functional screening of many structural variants generated in parallel (library). Libraries can be generated by a large number of available methods. Therein the use of mixtures of pre-formed trinucleotide blocks representing codons for the 20 canonical amino acids for oligonucleotide synthesis stands out as allowing fully controlled partial (or total) randomization individually at any number of arbitrarily chosen codon positions of a given gene. This has created substantial demand of fully protected trinucleotide synthons of good reactivity in standard oligonucleotide synthesis. We here review methods for the preparation of oligonucleotide mixtures with a strong focus on codon-specific trinucleotide blocks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamil Selvi Arunachalam
- Institut für Biochemie, Ernst Moritz Arndt Universität, Felix Hausdorff Strasse 4, Greifswald, D-17487, Germany
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26
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Gonzalez-Perez D, Garcia-Ruiz E, Alcalde M. Saccharomyces cerevisiae in directed evolution: An efficient tool to improve enzymes. Bioeng Bugs 2012; 3:172-7. [PMID: 22572788 DOI: 10.4161/bbug.19544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Over the past 20 years, directed evolution has been seen to be the most reliable approach to protein engineering. Emulating the natural selection algorithm, ad hoc enzymes with novel features can be tailor-made for practical purposes through iterative rounds of random mutagenesis, DNA recombination and screening. Of the heterologous hosts used in laboratory evolution experiments, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become the best choice to express eukaryotic proteins with improved properties. S. cerevisiae not only allows mutant enzymes to be secreted but also, it permits a wide range of genetic manipulations to be employed, ranging from in vivo cloning to the creation of greater molecular diversity, thanks to its efficient DNA recombination apparatus. Here, we summarize some successful examples of the use of the S. cerevisiae machinery to accelerate artificial evolution, complementing the traditional in vitro methods to generate tailor-made enzymes.
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27
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Verma R, Schwaneberg U, Roccatano D. MAP(2.0)3D: a sequence/structure based server for protein engineering. ACS Synth Biol 2012; 1:139-50. [PMID: 23651115 DOI: 10.1021/sb200019x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The Mutagenesis Assistant Program (MAP) is a web-based tool to provide statistical analyses of the mutational biases of directed evolution experiments on amino acid substitution patterns. MAP analysis assists protein engineers in the benchmarking of random mutagenesis methods that generate single nucleotide mutations in a codon. Herein, we describe a completely renewed and improved version of the MAP server, the MAP(2.0)3D server, which correlates the generated amino acid substitution patterns to the structural information of the target protein. This correlation aids in the selection of a more suitable random mutagenesis method with specific biases on amino acid substitution patterns. In particular, the new server represents MAP indicators on secondary and tertiary structure and correlates them to specific structural components such as hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic contacts, salt bridges, solvent accessibility, and crystallographic B-factors. Three model proteins (D-amino oxidase, phytase, and N-acetylneuraminic acid aldolase) are used to illustrate the novel capability of the server. MAP(2.0)3D server is available publicly at http://map.jacobs-university.de/map3d.html.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajni Verma
- School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen,
Germany
- Department of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074 Aachen,
Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Department of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringer Weg 1, 52074 Aachen,
Germany
| | - Danilo Roccatano
- School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen,
Germany
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28
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Janczyk M, Appel B, Springstubbe D, Fritz HJ, Müller S. A new and convenient approach for the preparation of β-cyanoethyl protected trinucleotide phosphoramidites. Org Biomol Chem 2012; 10:1510-3. [PMID: 22231393 DOI: 10.1039/c2ob06934b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Herein we report a convenient approach for the preparation of fully protected trinucleotide synthons to be used for the synthesis of gene libraries. The trinucleotide synthons bear β-cyanoethyl groups at the phosphate residues, and thus can be used in standard oligonucleotide synthesis without additional steps for deprotection and work-up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthäus Janczyk
- Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Institut für Biochemie, Felix-Hausdorff-Str., 4, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
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29
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Dennig A, Shivange AV, Marienhagen J, Schwaneberg U. OmniChange: the sequence independent method for simultaneous site-saturation of five codons. PLoS One 2011; 6:e26222. [PMID: 22039444 PMCID: PMC3198389 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2011] [Accepted: 09/22/2011] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Focused mutant library generation methods have been developed to improve mainly "localizable" enzyme properties such as activity and selectivity. Current multi-site saturation methods are restricted by the gene sequence, require subsequent PCR steps and/or additional enzymatic modifications. Here we report, a multiple site saturation mutagenesis method, OmniChange, which simultaneously and efficiently saturates five independent codons. As proof of principle, five chemically cleaved DNA fragments, each carrying one NNK-degenerated codon, were generated and assembled to full gene length in a one-pot-reaction without additional PCR-amplification or use of restriction enzymes or ligases. Sequencing revealed the presence of up to 27 different codons at individual positions, corresponding to 84.4% of the theoretical diversity offered by NNK-degeneration. OmniChange is absolutely sequence independent, does not require a minimal distance between mutated codons and can be accomplished within a day.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Dennig
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Amol V. Shivange
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Jan Marienhagen
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Schwaneberg
- Lehrstuhl für Biotechnologie, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- * E-mail:
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30
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Mundhada H, Marienhagen J, Scacioc A, Schenk A, Roccatano D, Schwaneberg U. SeSaM-Tv-II Generates a Protein Sequence Space that is Unobtainable by epPCR. Chembiochem 2011; 12:1595-601. [DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201100010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2011] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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31
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Seelig B. mRNA display for the selection and evolution of enzymes from in vitro-translated protein libraries. Nat Protoc 2011; 6:540-52. [DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2011.312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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32
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Reetz MT. Gerichtete Evolution stereoselektiver Enzyme: Eine ergiebige Katalysator‐Quelle für asymmetrische Reaktionen. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2010. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201000826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 128] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Manfred T. Reetz
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser‐Wilhelm‐Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr (Deutschland), Fax: (+49) 208‐306‐2985 http://www.mpi‐muelheim.mpg.de/mpikofo_home.html
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33
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Reetz MT. Laboratory Evolution of Stereoselective Enzymes: A Prolific Source of Catalysts for Asymmetric Reactions. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2010; 50:138-74. [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201000826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 441] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Manfred T. Reetz
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser‐Wilhelm‐Platz 1, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany), Fax: (+49) 208‐306‐2985 http://www.mpi‐muelheim.mpg.de/mpikofo_home.html
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34
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Dietrich JA, McKee AE, Keasling JD. High-throughput metabolic engineering: advances in small-molecule screening and selection. Annu Rev Biochem 2010; 79:563-90. [PMID: 20367033 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-062608-095938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 245] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Metabolic engineering for the overproduction of high-value small molecules is dependent upon techniques in directed evolution to improve production titers. The majority of small molecules targeted for overproduction are inconspicuous and cannot be readily obtained by screening. We provide a review on the development of high-throughput colorimetric, fluorescent, and growth-coupled screening techniques, enabling inconspicuous small-molecule detection. We first outline constraints on throughput imposed during the standard directed evolution workflow (library construction, transformation, and screening) and establish a screening and selection ladder on the basis of small-molecule assay throughput and sensitivity. An in-depth analysis of demonstrated screening and selection approaches for small-molecule detection is provided. Particular focus is placed on in vivo biosensor-based detection methods that reduce or eliminate in vitro assay manipulations and increase throughput. We conclude by providing our prospectus for the future, focusing on transcription factor-based detection systems as a natural microbial mode of small-molecule detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey A Dietrich
- UCSF-UCB Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
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Schmidt M, Böttcher D, Bornscheuer UT. Directed Evolution of Industrial Biocatalysts. Ind Biotechnol (New Rochelle N Y) 2010. [DOI: 10.1002/9783527630233.ch4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
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Lu X, Hora B, Cai F, Gao F. Generation of random mutant libraries with multiple primers in a single reaction. J Virol Methods 2010; 167:146-51. [PMID: 20362002 DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2010.03.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2009] [Revised: 03/23/2010] [Accepted: 03/24/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Characterization of multiple sites in a single gene that are important in biological phenotypes is challenging due to the difficulty to generate many mutants representing all or a majority of combinations of mutations in the gene. Using the HIV-1 env and pol genes as templates, four random libraries were generated representing different combinations of mutations introduced by up to 36 mutagenesis primers in a single assay. Over 86% of the clones contained mutations and the mutants tended to have single or fewer mutations in the libraries. When protein size was used as a screening marker, all identified clones contained at least 2 mutations and up to 12 mutations were detected in a single clone. Nearly all mutant clones in each library contained unique mutations, indicating that mutants in the library were generated at random. Closely related mutations which were overlapped by neighboring mutagenesis primers were often introduced in this system. Analysis of the env library showed that some potential N-linked glycosylation sites did not increase the Env molecular mass significantly, suggesting they were not used for glycosylation or only limited carbohydrate moieties were added at these sites. This novel method can serve as a powerful tool to study the biological phenotypes of genes whose functions are determined by multiple sites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaozhi Lu
- Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA
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Enhancing stress resistance and production phenotypes through transcriptome engineering. Methods Enzymol 2010; 470:509-32. [PMID: 20946823 DOI: 10.1016/s0076-6879(10)70020-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
As Saccharomyces cerevisiae is engineered further as a microbial factory for industrially relevant but potentially cytotoxic molecules such as ethanol, issues of cell viability arise that threaten to place a biological limit on output capacity and/or the use of less refined production conditions. Evidence suggests that one naturally evolved mode of survival in deleterious environments involves the complex, multigenic interplay between disparate stress response and homeostasis mechanisms. Rational engineering of such resistance would require a systems-level understanding of cellular behavior that is, in general, not yet available. To circumvent this limitation, we have developed a phenotype discovery approach termed global transcription machinery engineering (gTME) that allows for the generation and selection of nonphysiological traits. We alter gene expression on a genome-wide scale by selecting for dominant mutations in a randomly mutagenized general transcription factor. The gene encoding the mutated transcription factor resides on a plasmid in a strain carrying the unaltered chromosomal allele. Thus, although the dominant mutations may destroy the essential function of the plasmid-borne variant, alteration of the transcriptome with minimal perturbation to normal cellular processes is possible via the presence of the native genomic allele. Achieving a phenotype of interest involves the construction and diversity evaluation of yeast libraries harboring random sequence variants of a chosen transcription factor and the subsequent selection and validation of mutant strains. We describe the rationale and procedures associated with each step in the context of generating strains possessing enhanced ethanol tolerance.
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Güven G, Prodanovic R, Schwaneberg U. Protein Engineering - An Option for Enzymatic Biofuel Cell Design. ELECTROANAL 2010. [DOI: 10.1002/elan.200980017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Villiers BRM, Stein V, Hollfelder F. USER friendly DNA recombination (USERec): a simple and flexible near homology-independent method for gene library construction. Protein Eng Des Sel 2010; 23:1-8. [PMID: 19897542 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzp063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
USER friendly DNA recombination (USERec) is introduced as a near homology-independent method that allows the simultaneous recombination of an unprecedented number of 10 DNA fragments (approximately 40-400 bp) within a day. The large number of fragments and their ease of preparation enables the creation of libraries of much larger genetic diversity (potentially approximately 10(10)-10(11) sequences) than current alternative methods based on DNA truncation (ITCHY, SCRATCHY and SHIPREC) or type IIb restriction enzymes (SISDC). At the same time, the frequency of frameshifts in the recombined library is low (90% of the recombined sequences are in frame). Compared to overlap extension PCR, USERec also requires much reduced crossover sequence constraints (only a 5'-AN(4-8)T-3' motif) and fewer experimental steps. Based on its simplicity and flexibility, and the accessibility of large and high quality recombined DNA libraries, USERec is established as a convenient alternative for the combinatorial assembly of gene fragments (e.g. exon or domain shuffling) and for a number of applications in gene library construction, such as loop grafting and multi-site-directed or random mutagenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- B R M Villiers
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, 80 Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK
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40
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Kourist R, Brundiek H, Bornscheuer UT. Protein engineering and discovery of lipases. EUR J LIPID SCI TECH 2010. [DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.200900143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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41
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Gustafsson E, Rosén A, Barchan K, van Kessel KPM, Haraldsson K, Lindman S, Forsberg C, Ljung L, Bryder K, Walse B, Haas PJ, van Strijp JAG, Furebring C. Directed evolution of chemotaxis inhibitory protein of Staphylococcus aureus generates biologically functional variants with reduced interaction with human antibodies. Protein Eng Des Sel 2009; 23:91-101. [PMID: 19959567 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzp062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemotaxis inhibitory protein of Staphylococcus aureus (CHIPS) is a protein that binds and blocks the C5a receptor (C5aR) and formylated peptide receptor, thereby inhibiting the immune cell recruitment associated with inflammation. If CHIPS was less reactive with existing human antibodies, it would be a promising anti-inflammatory drug candidate. Therefore, we applied directed evolution and computational/rational design to the CHIPS gene in order to generate new CHIPS variants displaying lower interaction with human IgG, yet retaining biological function. The optimization was performed in four rounds: one round of random mutagenesis to add diversity into the CHIPS gene and three rounds of DNA recombination by Fragment INduced Diversity (FIND). Every round was screened by phage selection and/or ELISA for decreased interaction with human IgG and retained C5aR binding. The mean binding of human anti-CHIPS IgG decreased with every round of evolution. For further optimization, new amino acid substitutions were introduced by rational design, based on the mutations identified during directed evolution. Finally, seven CHIPS variants with low interaction with human IgG and retained C5aR blocking capacity could be identified.
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Lappe M, Bagler G, Filippis I, Stehr H, Duarte JM, Sathyapriya R. Designing evolvable libraries using multi-body potentials. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2009; 20:437-46. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2009.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2009] [Revised: 07/15/2009] [Accepted: 07/25/2009] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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Kourist R, Höhne M, Bornscheuer U. Gerichtete Evolution und rationales Design. Maßgeschneiderte Enzyme. CHEM UNSERER ZEIT 2009. [DOI: 10.1002/ciuz.200900478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Directed enzyme evolution: climbing fitness peaks one amino acid at a time. Curr Opin Chem Biol 2009; 13:3-9. [PMID: 19249235 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 219] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2008] [Accepted: 01/14/2009] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Directed evolution can generate a remarkable range of new enzyme properties. Alternate substrate specificities and reaction selectivities are readily accessible in enzymes from families that are naturally functionally diverse. Activities on new substrates can be obtained by improving variants with broadened specificities or by step-wise evolution through a sequence of more and more challenging substrates. Evolution of highly specific enzymes has been demonstrated, even with positive selection alone. It is apparent that many solutions exist for any given problem, and there are often many paths that lead uphill, one step at a time.
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Shivange AV, Marienhagen J, Mundhada H, Schenk A, Schwaneberg U. Advances in generating functional diversity for directed protein evolution. Curr Opin Chem Biol 2009; 13:19-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 138] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2008] [Revised: 01/26/2009] [Accepted: 01/28/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Wedge DC, Rowe W, Kell DB, Knowles J. In silico modelling of directed evolution: Implications for experimental design and stepwise evolution. J Theor Biol 2008; 257:131-41. [PMID: 19073195 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2008] [Revised: 11/03/2008] [Accepted: 11/03/2008] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
We model the process of directed evolution (DE) in silico using genetic algorithms. Making use of the NK fitness landscape model, we analyse the effects of mutation rate, crossover and selection pressure on the performance of DE. A range of values of K, the epistatic interaction of the landscape, are considered, and high- and low-throughput modes of evolution are compared. Our findings suggest that for runs of or around ten generations' duration-as is typical in DE-there is little difference between the way in which DE needs to be configured in the high- and low-throughput regimes, nor across different degrees of landscape epistasis. In all cases, a high selection pressure (but not an extreme one) combined with a moderately high mutation rate works best, while crossover provides some benefit but only on the less rugged landscapes. These genetic algorithms were also compared with a "model-based approach" from the literature, which uses sequential fixing of the problem parameters based on fitting a linear model. Overall, we find that purely evolutionary techniques fare better than do model-based approaches across all but the smoothest landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C Wedge
- Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7ND, UK.
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Firth AE, Patrick WM. GLUE-IT and PEDEL-AA: new programmes for analyzing protein diversity in randomized libraries. Nucleic Acids Res 2008; 36:W281-5. [PMID: 18442989 PMCID: PMC2447733 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkn226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 124] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
There are many methods for introducing random mutations into nucleic acid sequences. Previously, we described a suite of programmes for estimating the completeness and diversity of randomized DNA libraries generated by a number of these protocols. Our programmes suggested some empirical guidelines for library design; however, no information was provided regarding library diversity at the protein (rather than DNA) level. We have now updated our web server, enabling analysis of translated libraries constructed by site-saturation mutagenesis and error-prone PCR (epPCR). We introduce GLUE-Including Translation (GLUE-IT), which finds the expected amino acid completeness of libraries in which up to six codons have been independently varied (according to any user-specified randomization scheme). We provide two tools for assisting with experimental design: CodonCalculator, for assessing amino acids corresponding to given randomized codons; and AA-Calculator, for finding degenerate codons that encode user-specified sets of amino acids. We also present PEDEL-AA, which calculates amino acid statistics for libraries generated by epPCR. Input includes the parent sequence, overall mutation rate, library size, indel rates and a nucleotide mutation matrix. Output includes amino acid completeness and diversity statistics, and the number and length distribution of sequences truncated by premature termination codons. The web interfaces are available at http://guinevere.otago.ac.nz/stats.html.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew E Firth
- BioSciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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48
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Bershtein S, Tawfik DS. Advances in laboratory evolution of enzymes. Curr Opin Chem Biol 2008; 12:151-8. [PMID: 18284924 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2008.01.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 193] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2007] [Revised: 01/17/2008] [Accepted: 01/24/2008] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We address recent developments in the area of laboratory, or directed evolution, with a focus on enzymes and on new methodologies of generic potential. We survey three main areas: (i) library making techniques, including the application of computational and rational methods for library design; (ii) screening and selection techniques, including recent applications of enzyme screening by FACS (fluorescence activated cell sorter); (iii) new approaches for performing directed evolution, and in particular, the application of 'neutral drifts' (libraries generated by rounds of mutation and selection for the enzyme's original function) and of consensus mutations to generate highly evolvable starting points for directed evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shimon Bershtein
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
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Fox RJ, Huisman GW. Enzyme optimization: moving from blind evolution to statistical exploration of sequence-function space. Trends Biotechnol 2008; 26:132-8. [PMID: 18222559 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2007] [Revised: 11/30/2007] [Accepted: 12/05/2007] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Directed evolution is a powerful tool for the creation of commercially useful enzymes, particularly those approaches that are based on in vitro recombination methods, such as DNA shuffling. Although these types of search algorithms are extraordinarily efficient compared with purely random methods, they do not explicitly represent or interrogate the genotype-phenotype relationship and are essentially blind in nature. Recently, however, researchers have begun to apply multivariate statistical techniques to model protein sequence-function relationships and guide the evolutionary process by rapidly identifying beneficial diversity for recombination. In conjunction with state-of-the-art library generation methods, the statistical approach to sequence optimization is now being used routinely to create enzymes efficiently for industrial applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Fox
- Codexis, Inc., 200 Penobscot Drive, Redwood City, CA 94063, USA.
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