[Co-expression of beta-subunit with other subunits of Qbeta replicase]. 2004

Dong Wang
School of Biotechnology, The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Southern Yangtze University, Wuxi 214036, China. dwang@sytu.edu.cn

In researches involving in vitro protein synthesis and self-replication system, Qbeta replicase is one of the key enzymes, which are demanded for the high availability. Qbeta replicase is a RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of Qbeta coliphage. It consists of four subunits (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta subunit), where the beta-subunit is encoded by the viral genome, while the other three subunits are host proteins normally involved in protein synthesis, namely, ribosomal protein S1 (alpha), elongation factors EF-Tu (gamma) and EF-Ts (delta). To increase the production of the Qbeta replicase holoenzyme, several types of expression vectors, including pKK, pET and others, were employed to produce Qbeta replicase. However, the beta-subunit was almost in the precipitate fraction. Considering that the four subunits of Qbeta replicase holoenzyme are in equivalent molar ratio and the amount of the subunits, ribosomal S1 and EF-Ts, being produced by the host cells is relatively low, co-expression of beta-subunit with the other three subunits was performed to know whether the availability of the host subunits is the contributing factor for the solubility of the Qbeta replicase. pBAD33-rep was constructed by cloning the beta-subunit gene into pBAD 33, a pACYC derivative, and pET21a(+) was employed as expression vector for the three other subunits. Among the different combinations of co-expression experiments, solubility was found to slightly increase by SDS-PAGE analysis when the beta-subunit was co-expressed with EF-Tu-Ts. And the replicase activity assay showed this soluble enzyme is in active form. The expression of beta-subunit was enhanced by decreasing the level of inducer IPTG in co-expression, and more soluble enzyme were obtained.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007544 Isopropyl Thiogalactoside A non-metabolizable galactose analog that induces expression of the LAC OPERON. IPTG,Isopropyl 1-Thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside,1-Thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside, Isopropyl,Isopropyl 1 Thio beta D galactopyranoside,Thiogalactoside, Isopropyl
D010444 Peptide Elongation Factor Tu A protein found in bacteria and eukaryotic mitochondria which delivers aminoacyl-tRNA's to the A site of the ribosome. The aminoacyl-tRNA is first bound to a complex of elongation factor Tu containing a molecule of bound GTP. The resulting complex is then bound to the 70S initiation complex. Simultaneously the GTP is hydrolyzed and a Tu-GDP complex is released from the 70S ribosome. The Tu-GTP complex is regenerated from the Tu-GDP complex by the Ts elongation factor and GTP. Elongation Factor Tu,EF-Tu,Eucaryotic Elongation Factor Tu,Protein Synthesis Elongation Factor Tu,eEF-Tu,EF Tu,Factor Tu, Elongation,eEF Tu
D010445 Peptide Elongation Factors Protein factors uniquely required during the elongation phase of protein synthesis. Elongation Factor,Elongation Factors, Peptide,Factor, Elongation,Factors, Peptide Elongation
D011777 Q beta Replicase An enzyme that catalyzes the replication of the RNA of coliphage Q beta. EC 2.7.7.-. Qbeta Replicase,Replicase, Q beta,Replicase, Qbeta,beta Replicase, Q
D004790 Enzyme Induction An increase in the rate of synthesis of an enzyme due to the presence of an inducer which acts to derepress the gene responsible for enzyme synthesis. Induction, Enzyme
D012995 Solubility The ability of a substance to be dissolved, i.e. to form a solution with another substance. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Solubilities
D021122 Protein Subunits Single chains of amino acids that are the units of multimeric PROTEINS. Multimeric proteins can be composed of identical or non-identical subunits. One or more monomeric subunits may compose a protomer which itself is a subunit structure of a larger assembly. Protomers,Protein Subunit,Protomer,Subunit, Protein,Subunits, Protein
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