A novel approach to cloning and expression of human thymidylate synthase

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2013;14(12):7523-7. doi: 10.7314/apjcp.2013.14.12.7523.

Abstract

Thymidylate synthase (TS) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from methylenetetrahydrofolate to dUMP to form dTMP. It is a primary target in the chemotherapy of colorectal cancers and some other neoplasms. In order to obtain pure protein for analysis of structure and biological function, an expression vector TS-pET28b (+) was constructed by inserting wild-type human thymidylate synthase (hTS) cDNA into pET28b (+). Then an expression strain was selected after transformation of the recombined plasmid into Rosetta (DE3). Fusion protein with His-tag was efficiently expressed in the form of inclusion bodies after IPTG induction and the content was approximately 40.0% of total bacteria proteins after optimizing expression conditions. When inclusion bodies were washed, dissolved and purified by Ni-NTA under denatured conditions, the purity was up to 90%. On SDS-PAGE and West-blotting, the protein band was found to match well with the predicted relative molecular mass-36kDa. Bioactivity was 0.1 U/mg. The results indicated that high-level expression of wild-type hTS cDNA can be achieved in prokaryotes with our novel method, facilitating research into related chemotherapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Blotting, Western
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / physiology*
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Humans
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Thymidylate Synthase / genetics*
  • Thymidylate Synthase / isolation & purification

Substances

  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Thymidylate Synthase