Single-step affinity purification of recombinant proteins using a self-excising module from Neisseria meningitidis FrpC

Protein Sci. 2008 Oct;17(10):1834-43. doi: 10.1110/ps.035733.108. Epub 2008 Jul 28.

Abstract

Purification of recombinant proteins is often a challenging process involving several chromatographic steps that must be optimized for each target protein. Here, we developed a self-excising module allowing single-step affinity chromatography purification of untagged recombinant proteins. It consists of a 250-residue-long self-processing module of the Neisseria meningitidis FrpC protein with a C-terminal affinity tag. The N terminus of the module is fused to the C terminus of a target protein of interest. Upon binding of the fusion protein to an affinity matrix from cell lysate and washing out contaminating proteins, site-specific cleavage of the Asp-Pro bond linking the target protein to the self-excising module is induced by calcium ions. This results in the release of the target protein with only a single aspartic acid residue added at the C terminus, while the self-excising affinity module remains trapped on the affinity matrix. The system was successfully tested with several target proteins, including glutathione-S-transferase, maltose-binding protein, beta-galactosidase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, and adenylate cyclase, and two different affinity tags, chitin-binding domain or poly-His. Moreover, it was demonstrated that it can be applied as an alternative to two currently existing systems, based on the self-splicing intein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and sortase A of Staphylococcus aureus.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aspartic Acid / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry*
  • Calcium / chemistry
  • Chromatography, Affinity / methods*
  • Membrane Proteins / chemistry*
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry*
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • frpC protein, Neisseria meningitidis
  • Aspartic Acid
  • Calcium