Bacteria-based methods for engineering and characterization of proteases and affinity proteins

This thesis is focused on the development of methods for characterization and engineering of both proteases and affinity proteins. In addition, a prodrug concept for small affinity proteins is developed. Two of the developed methods are for engineering and/or characterization of proteases. First, a method for substrate profiling and engineering of proteases was investigated (paper I). In this method, a protease and a reporter are co-expressed in E. coli. The reporter is comprised of an enzyme, which confers resistance to an antibiotic, fused to a substrate, and a degradation tag. In absence of site-specific proteolysis within the reporter, the degradation tag renders the entire reporter a substrate for the intracellular degradation machinery. Thus, by applying competitive growth in presence of the antibiotic, a substrate that is preferred by a model protease could be enriched relative to less efficiently hydrolyzed substrates. Then, an alternative method for substrate profiling was developed (paper III). Here, the substrate is instead displayed on the surface of bacteria, and located between two anti-idiotypic domains, where one blocks the other from interacting with a reporter. Site-specific proteolysis releases the blocking domain and is therefore reflected in reporter binding. After incubation with fluorescently labeled reporter, the proteolysis can be analyzed by flow cytometry. When large libraries of potential substrates for matrix metalloprotease 1 (MMP-1) were screened, a panel of substrates with the previously reported motif PXXXHy was enriched, thereby demonstrating the potential of the method. This method offers the possibility for high-throughput substrate profiling of proteases as well as engineering of substrates for use in for example protease-activated prodrugs. In another study, a new prodrug concept for small affinity proteins was developed to improve the tissue selectivity in future in vivo studies (paper II). This concept takes advantage of the local upregulation of proteases in the diseased tissue in various disorders. By fusing a targeting domain to an anti-idiotypic binding partner via a protease-sensitive linker, the targeting domain is masked from interacting with its target until activation by site-specific proteolysis within the linker. The concept was demonstrated for a small affinity protein (Affibody molecule). Bacterial display was employed to engineer the so-called pro-Affibody. When displayed on the bacterial surface, the pro-Affibody showed over 1.000-fold increase in apparent binding affinity upon activation by a disease-associated protease. Additionally, the activated pro-Affibody could bind to its target expressed on cancer cells, as opposed to the non-activated pro-Affibody. This concept is likely to be extendable to other small affinity proteins and opens up for the possibility to develop new such prodrugs to previously non-druggable targets. In the last study, a screening method for protein-based aggregation inhibitors was developed (paper IV). In this method, a reporter and an inhibitor are co-expressed in E. coli. The reporter is comprised of green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to an aggregation prone peptide. Upon aggregation, the fluorescence is decreased, but it is then restored when the reporter is co-expressed with an inhibitor. In a model screening experiment, an Affibody molecule that targets the Aβ peptide (involved in Alzheimer’s disease) could be enriched from a background of non-inhibiting Affibody molecules. Also this method is likely to be extendable to other types of affinity proteins, and also to different aggregation prone peptides/proteins involved in other diseases. In conclusion, the methods and concepts presented in this thesis could in the future yield new means for the engineering and characterization of proteins with desired properties to be used in both biotechnological and medical applications.QC 20150521</p

Towards an antibiotic resistance-based assay for protease characterization and engineering

Proteases attract a lot of interest, not only because of their involvement in many biological processes, but also as essential tools in biomedical research and industry. Here, we present a novel genetic method for identification of site-specific proteolysis. The assay utilizes plasmid-encoded reporters that upon processing by a coexpressed protease confer antibiotic resistance to cells in proportion to the cleavage efficiency. We demonstrate that cells expressing cleavable or non-cleavable reporters together with tobacco etch virus protease (TEVp), could be distinguished from each other by growth in selective media. Moreover, the growth rate proved to correlate with the substrate processing efficiency. Thus by applying competitive growth in antibiotic-containing medium, we could also show that the substrate preferred by TEVp was enriched at the expense of other less-efficient substrates. We believe that this simple methodology will facilitate protease substrate identification, and hold great promise for directed evolution of proteases towards improved and/or new functionality.QC 2011051

Towards an antibiotic resistance-based assay for protease characterization and engineering

Proteases attract a lot of interest, not only because of their involvement in many biological processes, but also as essential tools in biomedical research and industry. Here, we present a novel genetic method for identification of site-specific proteolysis. The assay utilizes plasmid-encoded reporters that upon processing by a coexpressed protease confer antibiotic resistance to cells in proportion to the cleavage efficiency. We demonstrate that cells expressing cleavable or non-cleavable reporters together with tobacco etch virus protease (TEVp), could be distinguished from each other by growth in selective media. Moreover, the growth rate proved to correlate with the substrate processing efficiency. Thus by applying competitive growth in antibiotic-containing medium, we could also show that the substrate preferred by TEVp was enriched at the expense of other less-efficient substrates. We believe that this simple methodology will facilitate protease substrate identification, and hold great promise for directed evolution of proteases towards improved and/or new functionality.QC 2011051

Construction, expression and characterization of TEV protease mutants engineered for improved solubility

In recent years, the highly sequence specific tobacco etch virus protease (TEVp) has emerged as one of the most popular and widely used reagents for removal of fusion tags from target proteins. Its use, however, has been hampered due to relatively poor solubility and inefficient expression in E. coli. Although a lot of progress has been made, there is still need for new and improved TEVp variants. Recently, two different gain-of-function TEVp mutants were described; one containing the substitutions L56V/S135G, which conferred improved solubility and activity in vitro, while the other mutant, containing the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, was claimed to yield more soluble protease than the wild-type (wt) protease upon overexpression in E. coli. Here, we analyzed if the L56V/S135G substitutions could promote increased solubility also in vivo, as that would be beneficial to TEVp production and had never been investigated before. We also intended to create a novel, and hopefully superior, TEVp variant with all five mutations combined (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) in a single protease molecule. This variant and the two parental TEVp variants as well as the wt protease, were all expressed in E. coli and characterized with respect to the expression levels, solubility and activity using several different techniques; among them, a newly developed fluorescence-assisted whole-cell assay that directly reports on the apparent protease activity in vivo. Our results show that the L56V/S135G substitutions improve the solubility not only in vitro but also in vivo, which did hold true for the activity as well. Disappointingly, the protease variant containing all five substitutions (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) did not show the best performance, which instead the L56V/S135G variant did. In contrast to an earlier report, we show that the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, did not improve the TEVp solubility. In fact, they reduced the activity, and even appeared to have a slightly negative effect on solubility, of all protease constructs in which they were present. Thus, the best current and most promising TEVp variant for future protease engineering efforts, towards improved expression properties and enhanced catalytic efficiency, are those containing the L56V/S135G substitutions.QC 2011051

Construction, expression and characterization of TEV protease mutants engineered for improved solubility

In recent years, the highly sequence specific tobacco etch virus protease (TEVp) has emerged as one of the most popular and widely used reagents for removal of fusion tags from target proteins. Its use, however, has been hampered due to relatively poor solubility and inefficient expression in E. coli. Although a lot of progress has been made, there is still need for new and improved TEVp variants. Recently, two different gain-of-function TEVp mutants were described; one containing the substitutions L56V/S135G, which conferred improved solubility and activity in vitro, while the other mutant, containing the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, was claimed to yield more soluble protease than the wild-type (wt) protease upon overexpression in E. coli. Here, we analyzed if the L56V/S135G substitutions could promote increased solubility also in vivo, as that would be beneficial to TEVp production and had never been investigated before. We also intended to create a novel, and hopefully superior, TEVp variant with all five mutations combined (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) in a single protease molecule. This variant and the two parental TEVp variants as well as the wt protease, were all expressed in E. coli and characterized with respect to the expression levels, solubility and activity using several different techniques; among them, a newly developed fluorescence-assisted whole-cell assay that directly reports on the apparent protease activity in vivo. Our results show that the L56V/S135G substitutions improve the solubility not only in vitro but also in vivo, which did hold true for the activity as well. Disappointingly, the protease variant containing all five substitutions (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) did not show the best performance, which instead the L56V/S135G variant did. In contrast to an earlier report, we show that the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, did not improve the TEVp solubility. In fact, they reduced the activity, and even appeared to have a slightly negative effect on solubility, of all protease constructs in which they were present. Thus, the best current and most promising TEVp variant for future protease engineering efforts, towards improved expression properties and enhanced catalytic efficiency, are those containing the L56V/S135G substitutions.QC 2011051

Construction, expression and characterization of TEV protease mutants engineered for improved solubility

In recent years, the highly sequence specific tobacco etch virus protease (TEVp) has emerged as one of the most popular and widely used reagents for removal of fusion tags from target proteins. Its use, however, has been hampered due to relatively poor solubility and inefficient expression in E. coli. Although a lot of progress has been made, there is still need for new and improved TEVp variants. Recently, two different gain-of-function TEVp mutants were described; one containing the substitutions L56V/S135G, which conferred improved solubility and activity in vitro, while the other mutant, containing the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, was claimed to yield more soluble protease than the wild-type (wt) protease upon overexpression in E. coli. Here, we analyzed if the L56V/S135G substitutions could promote increased solubility also in vivo, as that would be beneficial to TEVp production and had never been investigated before. We also intended to create a novel, and hopefully superior, TEVp variant with all five mutations combined (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) in a single protease molecule. This variant and the two parental TEVp variants as well as the wt protease, were all expressed in E. coli and characterized with respect to the expression levels, solubility and activity using several different techniques; among them, a newly developed fluorescence-assisted whole-cell assay that directly reports on the apparent protease activity in vivo. Our results show that the L56V/S135G substitutions improve the solubility not only in vitro but also in vivo, which did hold true for the activity as well. Disappointingly, the protease variant containing all five substitutions (T17S/L56V/N68D/S135G/I77V) did not show the best performance, which instead the L56V/S135G variant did. In contrast to an earlier report, we show that the substitutions T17S/N68D/I77V, did not improve the TEVp solubility. In fact, they reduced the activity, and even appeared to have a slightly negative effect on solubility, of all protease constructs in which they were present. Thus, the best current and most promising TEVp variant for future protease engineering efforts, towards improved expression properties and enhanced catalytic efficiency, are those containing the L56V/S135G substitutions.QC 2011051