Genetic Code Expansion, Protein Expression, and Protein Functionalization in Bacillus subtilis

ACS Synth Biol. 2020 Mar 20;9(3):486-493. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00458. Epub 2020 Feb 18.

Abstract

The site-specific chemical modification of proteins through incorporation of noncanonical amino acids enables diverse applications, such as imaging, probing, and expanding protein functions, as well as to precisely engineer therapeutics. Here we report a general strategy that allows the incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into target proteins using the amber suppression method and their efficient secretion in the biotechnological relevant expression host Bacillus subtilis. This facilitates efficient purification of target proteins directly from the supernatant, followed by their functionalization using click chemistry. We used this strategy to site-specifically introduce norbornene lysine into a single chain antibody and functionalize it with fluorophores for the detection of human target proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacillus subtilis / genetics*
  • Bacillus subtilis / metabolism
  • CRISPR-Cas Systems
  • Click Chemistry
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form / metabolism
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / drug effects
  • Genetic Code
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Isopropyl Thiogalactoside / pharmacology
  • Lysine / chemistry
  • Norbornanes / chemistry
  • Protein Engineering / methods*
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Norbornanes
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • 2-norbornene
  • Isopropyl Thiogalactoside
  • Creatine Kinase, MM Form
  • Lysine