Skip to main content
Protein Science : A Publication of the Protein Society logoLink to Protein Science : A Publication of the Protein Society
. 1997 Nov;6(11):2359–2364. doi: 10.1002/pro.5560061109

Design of an expression system for detecting folded protein domains and mapping macromolecular interactions by NMR.

J R Huth 1, C A Bewley 1, B M Jackson 1, A G Hinnebusch 1, G M Clore 1, A M Gronenborn 1
PMCID: PMC2143577  PMID: 9385638

Abstract

Two protein expression vectors have been designed for the preparation of NMR samples. The vectors encode the immunoglobulin-binding domain of streptococcal protein G (GB1 domain) linked to the N-terminus of the desired proteins. This fusion strategy takes advantage of the small size, stable fold, and high bacterial expression capability of the GB1 domain to allow direct NMR spectroscopic analysis of the fusion protein by 1H-15N correlation spectroscopy. Using this system accelerates the initial assessment of protein NMR projects such that, in a matter of days, the solubility and stability of a protein can be determined. In addition, 15N-labeling of peptides and their testing for DNA binding are facilitated. Several examples are presented that demonstrate the usefulness of this technique for screening protein/DNA complexes, as well as for probing ligand-receptor interactions, using 15N-labeled GB1-peptide fusions and unlabeled target.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (3.9 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Delaglio F., Grzesiek S., Vuister G. W., Zhu G., Pfeifer J., Bax A. NMRPipe: a multidimensional spectral processing system based on UNIX pipes. J Biomol NMR. 1995 Nov;6(3):277–293. doi: 10.1007/BF00197809. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gronenborn A. M., Clore G. M. Rapid screening for structural integrity of expressed proteins by heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. Protein Sci. 1996 Jan;5(1):174–177. doi: 10.1002/pro.5560050123. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gronenborn A. M., Filpula D. R., Essig N. Z., Achari A., Whitlow M., Wingfield P. T., Clore G. M. A novel, highly stable fold of the immunoglobulin binding domain of streptococcal protein G. Science. 1991 Aug 9;253(5020):657–661. doi: 10.1126/science.1871600. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Huang B., Eberstadt M., Olejniczak E. T., Meadows R. P., Fesik S. W. NMR structure and mutagenesis of the Fas (APO-1/CD95) death domain. Nature. 1996 Dec 19;384(6610):638–641. doi: 10.1038/384638a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Huth J. R., Bewley C. A., Nissen M. S., Evans J. N., Reeves R., Gronenborn A. M., Clore G. M. The solution structure of an HMG-I(Y)-DNA complex defines a new architectural minor groove binding motif. Nat Struct Biol. 1997 Aug;4(8):657–665. doi: 10.1038/nsb0897-657. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Huth J. R., Norton S. E., Lockridge O., Shikone T., Hsueh A. J., Ruddon R. W. Bacterial expression and in vitro folding of the beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG beta) and functional assembly of recombinant hCG beta with hCG alpha. Endocrinology. 1994 Sep;135(3):911–918. doi: 10.1210/endo.135.3.8070386. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jackson B. M., Drysdale C. M., Natarajan K., Hinnebusch A. G. Identification of seven hydrophobic clusters in GCN4 making redundant contributions to transcriptional activation. Mol Cell Biol. 1996 Oct;16(10):5557–5571. doi: 10.1128/mcb.16.10.5557. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jansson M., Li Y. C., Jendeberg L., Anderson S., Montelione G. T., Nilsson B. High-level production of uniformly ¹N- and ¹C-enriched fusion proteins in Escherichia coli. J Biomol NMR. 1996 Mar;7(2):131–141. doi: 10.1007/BF00203823. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. LaVallie E. R., DiBlasio E. A., Kovacic S., Grant K. L., Schendel P. F., McCoy J. M. A thioredoxin gene fusion expression system that circumvents inclusion body formation in the E. coli cytoplasm. Biotechnology (N Y) 1993 Feb;11(2):187–193. doi: 10.1038/nbt0293-187. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Nilsson B., Abrahmsén L., Uhlén M. Immobilization and purification of enzymes with staphylococcal protein A gene fusion vectors. EMBO J. 1985 Apr;4(4):1075–1080. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03741.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Omichinski J. G., Pedone P. V., Felsenfeld G., Gronenborn A. M., Clore G. M. The solution structure of a specific GAGA factor-DNA complex reveals a modular binding mode. Nat Struct Biol. 1997 Feb;4(2):122–132. doi: 10.1038/nsb0297-122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Piotto M., Saudek V., Sklenár V. Gradient-tailored excitation for single-quantum NMR spectroscopy of aqueous solutions. J Biomol NMR. 1992 Nov;2(6):661–665. doi: 10.1007/BF02192855. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith C. K., Withka J. M., Regan L. A thermodynamic scale for the beta-sheet forming tendencies of the amino acids. Biochemistry. 1994 May 10;33(18):5510–5517. doi: 10.1021/bi00184a020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Studier F. W., Moffatt B. A. Use of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase to direct selective high-level expression of cloned genes. J Mol Biol. 1986 May 5;189(1):113–130. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90385-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Thanos D., Maniatis T. The high mobility group protein HMG I(Y) is required for NF-kappa B-dependent virus induction of the human IFN-beta gene. Cell. 1992 Nov 27;71(5):777–789. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90554-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Werner M. H., Clore G. M., Gronenborn A. M., Kondoh A., Fisher R. J. Refolding proteins by gel filtration chromatography. FEBS Lett. 1994 May 30;345(2-3):125–130. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(94)00401-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Werner M. H., Huth J. R., Gronenborn A. M., Clore G. M. Molecular basis of human 46X,Y sex reversal revealed from the three-dimensional solution structure of the human SRY-DNA complex. Cell. 1995 Jun 2;81(5):705–714. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(95)90532-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Protein Science : A Publication of the Protein Society are provided here courtesy of The Protein Society

RESOURCES