Gene Fusion Technology Research Articles

The triterpenoid saponin content difference is associated with the two type oxidosqualene cyclase gene copy numbers of Pulsatilla chinensis and Pulsatilla cernua.

Pulsatilla chinensis is an important medicinal herb, its dried radix is used to treat the inflammation since ancient China. Triterpenoid saponins are proved to be the main active compounds of Pulsatilla genus. The triterpenoid saponin contents vary widely in different Pulsatilla species. But no enzyme involved in the triterpenoid saponin biosynthetic pathway was identified in Pulsitilla genus. This seriously limits the explanation of the triterpene content difference of Pulsatilla species. In this article, we obtained two oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) genes from P. chinensis and P. cernua by touchdown PCR and anchored PCR. These two OSCs converted 2,3-oxidosqualene into different triterpenoids. The OSC from P. cernua is a monofunctional enzyme for β-amyrin synthesis, while the OSC from P. chinensis is a multifunctional enzyme for lupeol and β-amyrin synthesis, and the lupeol is the main product. Then we identified the 260th amino acid residue was the key site for the product difference by gene fusion and site-directed mutant technology. When the 260th amino acid residue was tryptophan (W260) and phenylalanine (F260), the main catalysate was β-amyrin and lupeol, respectively. Then we found that the expression of these two genes was strongly correlated with the lupeol-type and β-amyrin-type triterpenoid contents in P. cernua and P. chinensis. Finally, we found the gene copy number difference of these two genotypes leaded to the triterpenoid diversity in P. cernua and P. chinensis. This study provides useful information for the molecular breeding and quality improvement of P. chinensis and a molecular marker to identify the P. chinensis decoction pieces.

Double integrating XYL2 into engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains for consistently enhanced bioethanol production by effective xylose and hexose co-consumption of steam-exploded lignocellulose in bioenergy crops

Cellulosic ethanol has been regarded as excellent additive into petrol fuels for reduced net carbon release, and yeast fermentation is thus a crucial step for bioethanol production. In this study, three (XYL1/Candida tropicalis, XYL2/Candida tropicalis, XKS1/Saccharomyces cerevisiae) genes were isolated to construct four novel vectors using gene fusion and tandem technology. Four constructs were then transformed into common Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, leading to varied and limited xylose utilization. While two representative constructs were transformed into industrial yeast strain (SF7), the engineered SF7-Ft3 strain could consume 95% of total xylose for ethanol yield at 2.08 g/L, whereas the control strain only utilized 13% xylose with ethanol yield at 0.56 g/L. Additional XYL2 overexpression into the SF7-Ft3 strain led to consistently enhanced xylose utilization by from diverse enzymatic hydrolats of steam-exploded lignocellulose residues in three major bioenergy crops (wheat, maize, Miscanthus). These consequently increased bioethanol yields (% dry matter) and concentrations (g/L) by 11%–42%. Therefore, this study has demonstrated an applicable yeast-engineering approach for efficient xylose consumption and also provided a powerful strategy for enhancing bioethanol production in bioenergy crops.

Bioengineered Human Serum Albumin Fusion Protein as Target/Enzyme/pH Three-Stage Propulsive Drug Vehicle for Tumor Therapy.

Human serum albumin (HSA) has the characteristics of biocompatibility and long circulation, which is widely used as the carrier of insoluble anticancer drugs, but it also has some disadvantages such as weak tumor targeting and uncontrollable drug release. Herein, HSA was modified to improve its biological performance by introducing polyhistidine (pHis), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) digestion, and Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide at the separated end of HSA through gene fusion technology. The resulting protein expressed by Pichia pastoris could self-assemble into 3RGD-HSA-MMP-18His nanoparticles (RHMH18 NPs) accompanied by loading hydrophobic drug paclitaxel (PTX) into the polyhistidine micelle core. RHMH18 NPs exhibited active tumor targeting in high efficiency owing to the RGD-mediated specific binding toward ανβ3-integrin upregulated on tumor vasculature endothelium, resulting in the enrichment of therapeutic substances in tumor sites. Once reaching the tumor microenvironment, RHMH18 NPs was cut off by MMP-2 to remove the HSA-3RGD moiety, leaving the small and positively charged histidine micelle, which could penetrate the deep part of tumor tissue more effectively. Finally, the histidine micelle escaped from lysosome successfully and released drug in response to pH. The in vivo experiments' results demonstrated that the three-stage propulsion RHMH18 NPs presented superior tumor inhibition activity with minimal side effects, providing potential strategies of protein based drug delivery systems for tumor therapy.

Conversion of the molecular chaperone Spy into a novel fusion tag to enhance recombinant protein expression

The soluble expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli is vital for protein applications in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. However, the use of E. coli for efficient heterologous protein expression is hampered by several factors, such as poor expression and protein aggregation. Changing the culture or purification conditions may alleviate these issues, but methods based on gene fusion technology offer unique opportunities to improve the production and purification of soluble proteins. Here, we develop a novel fusion tag based on Spy, a newly identified molecular chaperone that functions in the periplasm of E. coli in an ATP-independent manner to prevent protein aggregation and assist in protein folding. We found that the tandem fusion of Spy stands among the well-described best fusion partners, such as MBP and SUMO, in increasing the soluble steady-state levels of six heterologous passenger proteins. Moreover, an easily aggregated passenger protein remained soluble after the removal of the Spy tag, implying that chaperone-dependent folding occurred when the passenger protein was fused to Spy. Our work expands the toolkit of fusion tags and allows them to aid in the production of unstable proteins with industrial or clinical values.

Lysis of Staphylococcal Cells by Modular Lysin Domains Linked via a Non-covalent Barnase-Barstar Interaction Bridge.

Bacteriophage endolysins and bacterial exolysins are capable of enzymatic degradation of the cell wall peptidoglycan layer and thus show promise as a new class of antimicrobials. Both exolysins and endolysins often consist of different modules, which are responsible for enzymatic functions and cell wall binding, respectively. Individual modules from different endo- or exolysins with different binding and enzymatic activities, can via gene fusion technology be re-combined into novel variants for investigations of arrangements of potential clinical interest. The aim of this study was to investigate if separately produced cell wall binding and enzyme modules could be assembled into a functional lysin via a non-covalent affinity interaction bridge composed of the barnase ribonuclease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and its cognate inhibitor barstar, known to form a stable heterodimeric complex. In a proof-of-principle study, using surface plasmon resonance, flow cytometry and turbidity reduction assays, we show that separately produced modules of a lysin cysteine/histidine-dependent amidohydrolase/peptidase (CHAP) from Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophage K endolysin (LysK) fused to barnase and a cell wall binding Src homology 3 domain (SH3b) from the S. simulans exolysin lysostaphin fused to barstar can be non-covalently assembled into a functional lysin showing both cell wall binding and staphylolytic activity. We hypothesize that the described principle for assembly of functional lysins from separate modules through appended hetero-dimerization domains has a potential for investigations of also other combinations of enzymatically active and cell wall binding domains for desired applications.

Evaluation of scFv protein recovery from E. coli by in vitro refolding and mild solubilization process

BackgroundThe production of therapeutically active single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody is still challenging in E. coli due to the aggregation propensity of recombinant protein into inclusion bodies (IBs). However, recent advancement of biotechnology has shown substantial recovery of bioactive protein from such insoluble IBs by solubilization and refolding processes. In addition, gene fusion technology has also widely been used to improve the soluble protein production using E. coli. This study demonstrates that mild-solubilization and in vitro refolding strategies, both are capable to recover soluble scFv protein from bacterial IBs, although the degree of success is greatly influenced by different fusion tags with the target protein.ResultsIt was observed that the most commonly used fusion tag, i.e., maltose binding protein (MBP) was not only influenced the cytoplasmic expression in E. coli but also greatly improved the in vitro refolding yield of scFv protein. On the other hand, mild solubilization process potentially could recover soluble and functional scFv protein from non-classical IBs without assistance of any fusion tag and in vitro refolding step. The recovery yield achieved by mild solubilization process was also found higher than denaturation–refolding method except while scFv was refolded in fusion with MBP tag. Concomitantly, it was also observed that the soluble protein achieved by mild solubilizationprocess was better structured and functionally more active than the one achieved by in vitro refolding method in the absence of MBP tag or refolding enhancer.ConclusionsMaltose binding protein tagged scFv has shown better refolding and solubility yields as compare to mild solubilization process. However, in terms of cost, time and tag free nature, mild solubilization method for scFv recovery from bacterial IBs is considerable for therapeutic application and further structural studies.

Gene design, fusion technology and TEV cleavage conditions influence the purification of oxidized disulphide-rich venom peptides in Escherichia coli

BackgroundAnimal venoms are large, complex libraries of bioactive, disulphide-rich peptides. These peptides, and their novel biological activities, are of increasing pharmacological and therapeutic importance. However, recombinant expression of venom peptides in Escherichia coli remains difficult due to the significant number of cysteine residues requiring effective post-translational processing. There is also an urgent need to develop high-throughput recombinant protocols applicable to the production of reticulated peptides to enable efficient screening of their drug potential. Here, a comprehensive study was developed to investigate how synthetic gene design, choice of fusion tag, compartment of expression, tag removal conditions and protease recognition site affect levels of solubility of oxidized venom peptides produced in E. coli.ResultsThe data revealed that expression of venom peptides imposes significant pressure on cysteine codon selection. DsbC was the best fusion tag for venom peptide expression, in particular when the fusion was directed to the bacterial periplasm. While the redox activity of DsbC was not essential to maximize expression of recombinant fusion proteins, redox activity did lead to higher levels of correctly folded target peptides. With the exception of proline, the canonical TEV protease recognition site tolerated all other residues at its C-terminus, confirming that no non-native residues, which might affect activity, need to be incorporated at the N-terminus of recombinant peptides for tag removal.ConclusionsThis study reveals that E. coli is a convenient heterologous host for the expression of soluble and functional venom peptides. Using the optimal construct design, a large and diverse range of animal venom peptides were produced in the µM scale. These results open up new possibilities for the high-throughput production of recombinant disulphide-rich peptides in E. coli.

A thermal responsive affinity ligand for precipitation of sialylated proteins

We report here the development of a thermal responsive affinity ligand specific to sialic acid, sialic acid containing oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, and other sialylated glycoconjugates. The ligand is a fusion protein of 40 repeats of pentapeptide of an elastin like polymer (ELP) and the 21 kD sialic acid binding domain of a Vibrio cholera neuraminidase (VCNA). For cost-effective synthesis, the fusion protein was targeted to the periplasmic space of an E. coli lpp deletion mutant, resulting in its secretion to the growth medium. A pre-induction heat-shock step at 42 ˚C for 20 minutes was necessary to achieve high level expression of the ligand. Under optimized induction condition (18 ˚C, 0.1 mM IPTG and 48 hours of post-induction cultivation), the ligand was produced to about 100 mg/L. The ligand exhibited a transition temperature of 52 ˚C, which could be depressed to 37 ˚C with the addition of 0.5 M NaCl. Using fetuin as a model sialylated protein, the ligand was applied in an affinity precipitation process to illustrate its potential application in glycoprotein isolation. The ligand captured 100% fetuin from an aqueous solution when the molar ratio of ligand to fetuin was 10 to 1, which was lower than the expected for full titration of sialic acid on the glycoprotein by the lectin. Elution of fetuin from ligand was achieved with PBS buffer containing 2 mM sialic acid. To evaluate how protein and other contaminants influence the recovery of sialylated proteins, CHO medium was spiked into the fetuin solution. The predominant protein species in CHO medium was found to be albumin. Although its removal of over 94% was evident, purified fetuin contained some albumin due to its over-abundance. Additional experiments with albumin contaminant of varying concentrations showed that below 1 mg/L, albumin had no impact on the affinity precipitation, whereas above 10 mg/L, some albumin was co-purified with fetuin. However, even at 50 mg/ml, fetuin recovery yield remained high (about 90%) and about 95% of albumin was depleted with only one cycle of precipitation and elution. These results suggest that the ligand could be used in initial capture of sialylated proteins and to remove over-abundant albumin contaminant. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first thermal responsive sialic acid binding protein developed with gene fusion technology.

Construction, expression, and characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana 4CL and Arachis hypogaea RS fusion gene 4CL::RS in Escherichia coli.

Resveratrol is an important antioxidant that confers several beneficial effects on human health. 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase (4CL) and resveratrol synthase (RS) are key rate-limiting enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of resveratrol. Using gene fusion technology, the fusion gene, 4CL::RS, was constructed by the 4CL gene from Arabidopsis thaliana and RS gene from Arachis hypogaea. DNAMAN analysis showed that the fusion gene encoded a 964-amino acid protein with an approximate weight of 104.7 kDa and a pI of 5.63. A prokaryotic expression vector containing Nco-I and EcoR-I restriction sites, pET-30a/4CL::RS, was identified by liquid culture bacterial PCR, enzyme digestion, and sequencing, and then used in the induction of expression. Subsequently, a biosynthetic pathway of resveratrol was constructed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) that harbored pET-30a/4CL::RS. The recombinant strains were induced to express the fusion protein at 28 °C for 8 h. After bacterial cells were disrupted by hypothermic ultrasonication, the 4CL::RS fusion protein was thoroughly separated from tags using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, and then detected by SDS-PAGE analysis. When the recombinant strains expressed the fusion protein, the precursor, p-coumaric acid, was converted to resveratrol. In the present study, the final concentration of resveratrol derived from 1 mM p-coumaric acid was 80.524 mg/L, with a 35.28 % (mol/mol) conversion yield.

Fusion tags for protein solubility, purification and immunogenicity in Escherichia coli: the novel Fh8 system

Proteins are now widely produced in diverse microbial cell factories. The Escherichia coli is still the dominant host for recombinant protein production but, as a bacterial cell, it also has its issues: the aggregation of foreign proteins into insoluble inclusion bodies is perhaps the main limiting factor of the E. coli expression system. Conversely, E. coli benefits of cost, ease of use and scale make it essential to design new approaches directed for improved recombinant protein production in this host cell. With the aid of genetic and protein engineering novel tailored-made strategies can be designed to suit user or process requirements. Gene fusion technology has been widely used for the improvement of soluble protein production and/or purification in E. coli, and for increasing peptide’s immunogenicity as well. New fusion partners are constantly emerging and complementing the traditional solutions, as for instance, the Fh8 fusion tag that has been recently studied and ranked among the best solubility enhancer partners. In this review, we provide an overview of current strategies to improve recombinant protein production in E. coli, including the key factors for successful protein production, highlighting soluble protein production, and a comprehensive summary of the latest available and traditionally used gene fusion technologies. A special emphasis is given to the recently discovered Fh8 fusion system that can be used for soluble protein production, purification, and immunogenicity in E. coli. The number of existing fusion tags will probably increase in the next few years, and efforts should be taken to better understand how fusion tags act in E. coli. This knowledge will undoubtedly drive the development of new tailored-made tools for protein production in this bacterial system.

A novel adjuvant-free H fusion system for the production of recombinant immunogens in Escherichia coli

The production of recombinant antigens in Escherichia coli and specific polyclonal antibodies for diagnosis and therapy is still a challenge for world-wide researchers. Several different strategies have been explored to improve both antigen and antibody production, all of them depending on a successful expression and immunogenicity of the antigen. Gene fusion technology attempted to address these challenges: fusion partners have been applied to optimize recombinant antigen production in E. coli, and to increase protein immunogenicity. Taking a 12-kDa surface adhesion antigen from Cryptosporidium parvum (CP12) by example, the novel H fusion partner was presented in this work as an attractive option for the development of recombinant immunogens and its adjuvant-free immunization. The H tag (of only 1 kDa) efficiently triggered a CP12-specific immune response, and it also improved the immunization procedure without requiring co-administration of adjuvants. Moreover, polyclonal antibodies raised against the HCP12 fusion antigen detected native antigen structures displayed on the surface of C. parvum oocysts. The H tag proved to be an advanced strategy and promising technology for the diagnosis and therapy of C. parvum infections in animals and humans, allowing a rapid and simple recombinant production of the CP12 antigen.

The novel Fh8 and H fusion partners for soluble protein expression in Escherichia coli: a comparison with the traditional gene fusion technology

The Escherichia coli host system is an advantageous choice for simple and inexpensive recombinant protein production but it still presents bottlenecks at expressing soluble proteins from other organisms. Several efforts have been taken to overcome E. coli limitations, including the use of fusion partners that improve protein expression and solubility. New fusion technologies are emerging to complement the traditional solutions. This work evaluates two novel fusion partners, the Fh8 tag (8 kDa) and the H tag (1 kDa), as solubility enhancing tags in E. coli and their comparison to commonly used fusion partners. A broad range comparison was conducted in a small-scale screening and subsequently scaled-up. Six difficult-to-express target proteins (RVS167, SPO14, YPK1, YPK2, Frutalin and CP12) were fused to eight fusion tags (His, Trx, GST, MBP, NusA, SUMO, H and Fh8). The resulting protein expression and solubility levels were evaluated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis before and after protein purification and after tag removal. The Fh8 partner improved protein expression and solubility as the well-known Trx, NusA or MBP fusion partners. The H partner did not function as a solubility tag. Cleaved proteins from Fh8 fusions were soluble and obtained in similar or higher amounts than proteins from the cleavage of other partners as Trx, NusA or MBP. The Fh8 fusion tag therefore acts as an effective solubility enhancer, and its low molecular weight potentially gives it an advantage over larger solubility tags by offering a more reliable assessment of the target protein solubility when expressed as a fusion protein.

Human SUMO fusion systems enhance protein expression and solubility

A major challenge associated with recombinant protein production in Escherichia coli is generation of large quantities of soluble, functional protein. Yeast SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier), has been shown to enhance heterologous protein expression and solubility as fusion tag, however, the effects of human SUMOs on protein expression have not been investigated. Here we describe the use of human SUMO1 and SUMO2 as a useful gene fusion technology. Human SUMO1 and SUMO2 fusion expression vectors were constructed and tested in His-tag and ubiquitin fusion expression systems. Two difficult-to-express model proteins, matrix metalloprotease-13 (MMP13) and enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) were fused to the C-terminus of the human SUMO1 and SUMO2 expression vectors. These constructs were expressed in E. coli and evaluation of MMP13 and eGFP expression and solubility was conducted. We found that both SUMO1 and SUMO2 had the ability to enhance the solubility of MMP13 and eGFP, with the SUMO2 tag having a more significant effect. Since fusion tags produce varying quantities of soluble proteins, we assessed the effect of SUMO2 coupled with ubiquitin (Ub). SUMO2-ubiquitin and ubiquitin-SUMO2 fusion expression plasmids were constructed with eGFP as a passenger protein. Following expression in E. coli, both plasmids could improve eGFP expression and solubility similar to the SUMO2 fusion and better than the ubiquitin fusion. The sequential order of SUMO2 and ubiquitin had little effect on expression and solubility of eGFP. Purification of eGFP from the gene fusion product, SUMO2-ubiquitin-eGFP, involved cleavage by a deubiquitinase (Usp2-cc) and Ni-Sepharose column chromatography. The eGFP protein was purified to high homogeneity. In summary, human SUMO1 and SUMO2 are useful gene fusion technologies enhancing the expression, solubility and purification of model heterologous proteins.

Making the Most of Fusion Tags Technology in Structural Characterization of Membrane Proteins

Membrane proteins can be investigated at various structural levels, including the topological structure, the high-resolution three-dimensional structure, and the organization and assembly of membrane protein complexes. Gene fusion technology makes it possible to insert a polynucleotide encoding a protein or polypeptide tag into the gene encoding a membrane protein of interest. Resultant recombinant proteins may possess the functions of the original membrane proteins, together with the biochemical properties of the imported fusion tag, greatly enhancing functional and structural studies of membrane proteins. In this article, the latest literature is reviewed in relation to types, applications, strategies, and approaches to fusion tag technology for structural investigations of membrane proteins.

Achieving directed immunostimulating complexes incorporation

In recent years, several studies have been reported with the common aim of generating general expression systems for straightforward production and subsequent coupling of expressed antigens to an adjuvant system. Here, we describe a series of such efforts with a common theme of using gene fusion technology for association of recombinant antigens to immunostimulating complexes (iscoms). In the early stages of vaccine development, uniform antigen preparations are crucial to allow the comparison of immune responses to different antigens, or even subdomains thereof, and we believe that the described systems constitute an important development in this context.

Regulation of expression of the 2-deoxy-D-ribose utilization regulon, deoQKPX, from Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium.

Salmonella enterica, in contrast to Escherichia coli K12, can use 2-deoxy-D-ribose as the sole carbon source. The genetic determinants for this capacity in S. enterica serovar Typhimurium include four genes, of which three, deoK, deoP, and deoX, constitute an operon. The fourth, deoQ, is transcribed in the opposite direction. The deoK gene encodes deoxyribokinase. In silico analyses indicated that deoP encodes a permease and deoQ encodes a regulatory protein of the deoR family. The deoX gene product showed no match to known proteins in the databases. Deletion analyses showed that both a functional deoP gene and a functional deoX gene were required for optimal utilization of deoxyribose. Using gene fusion technology, we observed that deoQ and the deoKPX operon were transcribed from divergent promoters located in the 324-bp intercistronic region between deoQ and deoK. The deoKPX promoter was 10-fold stronger than the deoQ promoter, and expression was negatively regulated by DeoQ as well as by DeoR, the repressor of the deoxynucleoside catabolism operon. Transcription of deoKPX but not of deoQ was regulated by catabolite repression. Primer extension analysis identified the transcriptional start points of both promoters and showed that induction by deoxyribose occurred at the level of transcription initiation. Gel retardation experiments with purified DeoQ illustrated that it binds independently to tandem operator sites within the deoQ and deoK promoter regions with K(d) values of 54 and 2.4 nM, respectively.

Integrated strategy for selective expanded bed ion-exchange adsorption and site-specific protein processing using gene fusion technology

The highly charged domain Z basic can be used as a fusion partner to enhance adsorption of target proteins to cation exchanging resins at high pH-values. In this paper, we describe a strategy for purification of target proteins fused to Z basic at a constant physiological pH using cation exchange chromatography in an expanded bed mode. We show that two proteins, Klenow DNA polymerase and the viral protease 3C, can be efficiently purified from unclarified Escherichia coli homogenates in a single step with a selectivity analogous to what is normally achieved by affinity chromatography. The strategy also includes an integrated site-specific removal of the Z basic purification handle to yield a free target protein.

A genomic approach to gene fusion technology.

Gene expression profiling provides powerful analyses of transcriptional responses to cellular perturbation. In contrast to DNA array-based methods, reporter gene technology has been underused for this application. Here we describe a genomewide, genome-registered collection of Escherichia coli bioluminescent reporter gene fusions. DNA sequences from plasmid-borne, random fusions of E. coli chromosomal DNA to a Photorhabdus luminescens luxCDABE reporter allowed precise mapping of each fusion. The utility of this collection covering about 30% of the transcriptional units was tested by analyzing individual fusions representative of heat shock, SOS, OxyR, SoxRS, and cya/crp stress-responsive regulons. Each fusion strain responded as anticipated to environmental conditions known to activate the corresponding regulatory circuit. Thus, the collection mirrors E. coli's transcriptional wiring diagram. This genomewide collection of gene fusions provides an independent test of results from other gene expression analyses. Accordingly, a DNA microarray-based analysis of mitomycin C-treated E. coli indicated elevated expression of expected and unanticipated genes. Selected luxCDABE fusions corresponding to these up-regulated genes were used to confirm or contradict the DNA microarray results. The power of partnering gene fusion and DNA microarray technology to discover promoters and define operons was demonstrated when data from both suggested that a cluster of 20 genes encoding production of type I extracellular polysaccharide in E. coli form a single operon.

Application of the PHO5-Gene-Fusion Technology to Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology in Yeast.

Modern biological scientists employ numerous approaches for solving their problems. Among these approaches, the gene fusion is surely one of the well-established valuable tools in various fields of biological sciences. A wide range of applications have been developed to analyze a variety of biological phenomena such as transcriptional regulation, pre-mRNA processing, mRNA decay, translation, protein localization and even protein transport in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Gene fusions were also used for the study of protein purification, protein structure, protein folding, protein-protein interaction and protein-DNA interaction. Here, we describe applications of gene fusion technology using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae PHO5 gene encoding repressible acid phosphatase to molecular genetics and biotechnology in S. cerevisiae. Using the PHO5 gene fusion as a reporter, we have identified several cis- and trans-acting genes of S. cerevisiae which are involved in splicing of pre-mRNA, biosynthesis of amino acids, ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation, signal transduction of oxygen and unsaturated fatty acid, regulation of transcription by the nucleosome and chromatin. The PHO5 gene fusions exhibiting the mating-type specific expression were also generated to develop a breeding technique for industrial yeast. It is concluded that the PHO5 gene fusion is extremely useful and should be further exploited to investigate various cellular steps of the eukaryotic gene expression.

Use of protein A gene fusions for the analysis of structure-function relationship of the transactivator protein C of bacteriophage Mu

A sensitive dimerization assay for DNA binding proteins has been developed using gene fusion technology. For this purpose, we have engineered a gene fusion using protein A gene of Staphylococcus aureus and C gene, the late gene transactivator of bacteriophage Mu. The C gene was fused to the 3' end of the gene for protein A to generate an A-C fusion. The overexpressed fusion protein was purified in a single step using immunoglobulin affinity chromatography. Purified fusion protein exhibits DNA binding activity as demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. When the fusion protein A-C was mixed with C and analyzed for DNA binding, in addition to C and A-C specific complexes, a single intermediate complex comprising of a heterodimer of C and A-C fusion proteins was observed. Further, the protein A moiety in the fusion protein A-C does not contribute to DNA binding as demonstrated by proteolytic cleavage and circular dichroism (CD) analysis. The assay has also been applied to analyze the DNA binding domain of C protein by generating fusions between protein A and N- and C-terminal deletion mutants of C. The results indicate a role for the region towards the carboxy terminal of the protein in DNA binding. The general applicability of this method is discussed.