An efficient strategy for heterologous expression and purification of active peptide hainantoxin-IV

PLoS One. 2015 Feb 3;10(2):e0117099. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117099. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Hainantoxin-IV (HNTX-IV) from the venom of the spider Selenocosmia hainana is a potent antagonist that specifically inhibits the tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S) sodium channels. The toxin peptide consists of 35 amino acids and adopts a typical inhibitory cystine knot (ICK) motif. To obtain adequate HNTX-IV peptides for further insight into the structure-activity relationships of the toxin, a novel strategy including cloning, expression and purification was developed in an E. coli expression system. For this purpose, a seamless restriction-free (RF) cloning method was employed for the construction of an expression vector to avoid introducing unwanted sequences into the target gene. Furthermore, the solubility of recombinant HNTX-IV could be promoted efficiently by the combination of a glutathione S-transferase (GST) tag and a small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) tag. Finally, an affinity-chromatography-free purification strategy was developed by cut-off dialysis tubing combined with trichloroacetic acid (TCA) extraction. Further HPLC purification yielded recombinant, tag-free HNTX-IV with high yield and purity. The molecular weight of recombinant HNTX-IV (rHNTX-IV) is identical to its theoretical value according to Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption / Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) analysis. The recombinant toxin has similar activity (IC50 value of 120 nM) on the tetrodotoxin-sensitive (TTX-S) sodium channels in adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons to native toxins. In the report, an efficient and cost-effective strategy for producing rHNTX-IV was developed, which paved the way for the further study of structure-activity relationships of rHNTX-IV and its pharmaceutical applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Chromatography, Affinity
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Ganglia, Spinal / drug effects
  • Ganglia, Spinal / physiology
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / genetics*
  • Peptides / isolation & purification*
  • Peptides / pharmacology
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology
  • Spider Venoms / chemistry
  • Spider Venoms / genetics*
  • Spider Venoms / isolation & purification*
  • Spider Venoms / pharmacology
  • Spiders / chemistry
  • Spiders / genetics*

Substances

  • Peptides
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Spider Venoms
  • hainantoxin-IV, Seleconosmia hainana

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China “973” Project, No. 2010CB529800 to Prof. S.P. Liang; National University of Defense Technology Project, No. JC2006-02-01 to Prof. D.Y. Zhang, and JC13-02-16 to Dr. Lei Wu; and National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31100609 to Dr. L.Y. Zhu. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.