Production of human recombinant proapolipoprotein A-I in Escherichia coli: purification and biochemical characterization

A human liver cDNA library was used to isolate a clone coding for apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I). The clone carries the sequence for the prepeptide (18 amino acids), the propeptide (6 amino acids), and the mature protein (243 amino acids). A coding cassette for the proapo A-I molecule was reconstructed by fusing synthetic sequences, chosen to optimize expression and specifying the amino-terminal methionine and amino acids -6 to +14, to a large fragment of the cDNA coding for amino acids 15-243. The module was expressed in pOTS-Nco, an Escherichia coli expression vector carrying the regulatable X P^ promoter, leading to the production of proapolipoprotein A-I at up to 10% of total soluble proteins. The recombinant polypeptide was purified and characterized in terms of apparent molecular mass, isoelectric point, and by both chemical and enzymatic peptide mapping. In addition, it was assayed in vitro for the stimulation of the enzyme lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase. The data show for the first time that proapo A-I can be produced efficiently in E. coli as a stable and undegraded protein having physical and functional properties indistinguishable from those of the natural product

Molecular cloning, sequencing, and expression in Escherichia coli of human preprourokinase cDNA

A cDNA library derived from human carcinoma cells was used to isolate a clone, pULB1000, coding for the preproenzyme form of human urokinase. This clone carries the full-length sequence coding for the signal peptide and for the A chain (157 amino acids) and B chain (253 amino acids) of urokinase in tandem. The sequence of the cDNA predicts the presence of a single lysine residue between the last amino acid of the mature A polypeptide (Phe-157) and the first amino acid of the mature B polypeptide (Ile-1). The amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA sequence fits the published amino acid sequence data with three exceptions, the reported cysteine residue at position 131 in the A chain is a tryptophan, and glycine 366 and alanine 410 in the B chain are, respectively, a cysteine and a valine in our clone. A large Bgl I fragment (1482 bp), derived from the clone pULB1000 coding for most of the signal peptide and for the A and B chains, has been subcloned into the expression vector pCQV2. Heat induction of E. coli cells carrying the recombinant plasmid leads to the production of urokinase-like polypeptides having the expected molecular weights and being specifically recognized by antibodies raised against natural human urokinase

Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of full-length complementary DNA coding for human α1-antitrypsin

A cDNA library prepared from human liver was screened for α₁-antitrypsin, a major constituent of plasma which functions as inhibitor of proteolytic enzyms. The library was screened using a 12-base-long synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide corresponding to a known DNA fragment of human α₁-antitrypsin and by hybrid-selection of α₁-antitrypsin mRNA