Codon-optimized cloning, expression and characertization of the C-terminal region of human apoptotic protein GADD34 in Escherichia coli

Cell Cycle. 2004 Jan;3(1):75-9.

Abstract

The human GADD34 (Growth Arrest and DNA Damage-inducible 34) is the product of an apoptosis- and DNA-damage-inducible gene. The C-terminus domain of GADD34 is highly homologous to HSV-1 gamma-1 34.5, HSV-2 and the African swine fever virus virulence-associated factor NL-S. Among these viral proteins, HSV-1 gamma 34.5 protein is known to prevent apoptosis of viral-infected cells. Because of the difficulty in expressing GADD34 protein or any of its fragments, including the C-terminus (amino acids 533-632) in E. coli, partially due to sub-optimal expression of eukaryotic codons in prokaryotic E. coli, we used a codon-optimized cloning scheme to construct the eukaryotic gene that codes for GADD34(533-632). We derived a novel PCR protocol to assemble 20 oligonucleotides into the synthetic GADD34(533-632) gene. The clear advantage of using this protocol is that the assembled gene is without the mutation and deletion that are usually of a major problem in constructing synthetic genes. The synthetic GADD34(533-632) gene was cloned, expressed, and purified in large quantity. We obtained approximately 50 mg of GADD34(533-632) protein per liter minimum-medium culture. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a large-scale production of the C-terminus of GADD34. The production and purification of GADD34(533-632) in large quantity are essential for structure determination as well as for understanding its interactions with other proteins such as phosphatase 1-alpha using NMR spectroscopy and other biophysical methods.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs / physiology
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Antigens, Differentiation
  • Apoptosis / physiology
  • Binding Sites
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Cloning, Molecular*
  • Codon / genetics*
  • Escherichia coli
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Protein Binding / physiology
  • Protein Phosphatase 1
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • Antigens, Differentiation
  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Codon
  • Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • PPP1R15A protein, human
  • Protein Phosphatase 1