Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K5321007"

 
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===Usage and Biology===
 
===Usage and Biology===
  
In order to perform our proof of concept of our project, we choose thrombin as a model to mimic disease biomarkers, and its aptamers reported previously. thrombin_AYA1809004_40mer is an aptamer originally characterized by Mohamad et al. in 2023. It specifically targets the heparin-binding site of thrombin.
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Split plum pox virus protease (PPVp), also referred to as the nuclear inclusion a protein (NIa), is a key enzyme from the plum pox virus (PPV). It plays a critical role as one of the three viral proteases involved in the maturation of the viral polyprotein into its functional components. Here, we used it as a tool to amplify our detection signal of disease biomarkers.
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This part is the coding sequence for N-terminal fragment (nPPVp). 6x His tag was added to the front of the peptide for purification. FRB is a tag in mTOR signaling pathway. It could link with Rapamycin and in cascade form a FKBP-RAP-FRB complex, causing the split protease to heterodimerize and form a functional protease.
  
'''Figure 1''' shows the interaction of thrombin_AYA1809004_40mer with human thrombin.
 
 
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'''Figure 1 | Structure and affinity of thrombin_AYA1809004_40mer.''' (a) the secondary structure of the 40-mer aptamer. (b) ELISA-based competition assay to determine the affinity constant (Kd) for the aptamer AYA1809004. It was incubated with thrombin protein immobilized on a 96-well ELISA plate in the absence or presence of a 100-fold excess of non-biotinylated AYA1809004 respectively. <br>
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'''Figure 1 | Prediction result of PPVp structure.''' Cyan portion represents the N-terminal fragment (nPPVp), while green portion represents the C-terminal fragment (cPPVp).<br>
 
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===Characterization===
 
===Characterization===
====Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA)====
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====Protein Purification====
An electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) is a common affinity electrophoresis technique used to study protein-DNA or protein-RNA interactions. This procedure can determine if a protein or mixture of proteins is capable of binding to a given DNA or RNA sequence. In the present study, EMSA was employed for affinity test of the aptamers.
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Because our system is an in vitro detection system, it’s essential for us to express proteins and then purify them. We have chosen three strategies to express proteins. Directly expression with 6xHis tag but without solubility tags, expression with both 6xHis tag and solubility tags and expression with cell-free system. Methodology of ours for purification is affinity chromatography. To be specific, we use nickel affinity chromatography to purify proteins with 6xhis tag (with or without solubility tags), and use glutathione affinity chromatography to purify proteins expressed by cell-free system. For nickel affinity chromatography, we use both ÄKTA system and gravity chromatography. For glutathione affinity chromatography, we use ÄKTA system. Furthermore, for proteins that are not expressed with solubility tags or cell-free system, they usually form inclusion bodies and we need new strategy to tackle this tricky problem. On-column refolding is the very solution applied by us. Finally, to test whether the affinity chromatography works as expected, we have done SDS-PAGE analysis to see the purification results.
 
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After thrombin and aptamers were diluted with proper buffer, reaction systems were built with a gradient of aptamers. 15-mer, 29-mer and 40-mer aptamers were tested, and a gradient of concentration of thrombin were applied to reflect the binding affinity. After the aptamers were co-incubated with thrombin for 60 min, an 12% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was performed. The gel was then stained by fluorescent dye. GelRed was used as the DNA dye. Random extension was added to aptamer, in order to enhance GelRed incorporation ('''Figure 2''').
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'''Figure 2 | The design of aptamer-linker-probe complex.''' This structure enlarged the DNA molecule while its binding activity was not weakened.
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'''Figure 2 | Elution profile of nPPV.''' Peak A stands for transmission peak; peak B stands for elution peak of nPPV.
 
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The electrophoresis showed that the aptamers showed rather strong binding affinity ('''Figure 3'''). The shift bands became more clear as the concentration of thrombin increased. 15-mer and 29-mer aptamers had a clear shift band and a clear non-shift band. 40-mer aptamer was suspected to form multimers, causing a strong band at the sampling hole and unclear bands at the target sites.
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'''Figure 3 | Native-PAGE results of EMSA.''' In the two figures, lane 1, marker; lane 2, control group with 15-mer, 29-mer and 40-mer aptamers and NO thrombin. All aptamers were at a concentration of 10 pM. A: lane 3-5, 0.45 pM thrombin incubated with respectively 29-mer+40-mer, 15-mer+40-mer, 15-mer+29-mer; lane 6-8, 15-mer aptamer incubated with gradient thrombin concentration of 0.45, 0.9 and 1.8 pM. B: lane 3-5, 29-mer aptamer incubated with gradient thrombin concentration of 0.45, 0.9 and 1.8 pM.; lane 6-8, 40-mer aptamer incubated with gradient thrombin concentration of 0.45, 0.9 and 1.8 pM.
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'''Figure 3 | SDS-PAGE analysis of the cell lysate, the transmission peak and the elution peak after nickel affinity chromatography through AKTA or gravity chromatography.''' Lane2-4, total proteins of bacteria expressing cPPV, elution peak, transmission peak of cPPV; Lane5-7, total proteins of bacteria expressing nPPV; Lane9-10, elution peak and transmission peak of nPPV. All the proteins are purified through AKTA. Because of the low resolution of the picture, other bands of low expression proteins can’t be seen.
  
====Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)====
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====Protease Activity Verification====
EMSA provided a relatively rudimentary validation of the binding interactions. To achieve a more quantitative and precise characterization of the interactions between the 29-mer/40-mer aptamers and thrombin, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) was employed for testing. Briefly, streptavidin (SA) was amino-conjugated to capture biotinylated aptamers and seal the chip with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to prevent non-specific binding of thrombin. Then gradient diluted thrombin was loaded to obtain the corresponding curves within SPR buffer. Partial experimental results were fitted with 1:1 binding kinetic model in order to calculate dissociation constant (KD). Detailed operational procedures can be found on the Experiments-Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) page.  
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Since our system relies on the protease both amplifying the signal and triggering the release of the final colloidal gold output, it is crucial to verify the target protease activity to ensure that the enzymes used in our experiments are active and functioning as expected. To achieve this, we designed a experiment to verify the enzyme activity under controlled conditions (you can find more detailed information about this experiment in our protocol). We validated the activity of two intact proteases and one split protease. For the intact PPV proteases, we mixed a calculated amount of the enzyme with its corresponding substrate and added the appropriate amount of reaction buffer. The mixture was incubated at 30°C, and samples were taken at different time points. The reaction was stopped with SDS loading buffer, followed by electrophoresis. Enzyme activity was confirmed by observing the reduction in substrate and the presence of cleavage product bands. For the split PPV protease, we additionally added a fixed amount of rapamycin to induce protease dimerization and activation.
  
 
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'''Figure 4 | Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) results of aptamer-thrombin binding.''' The sensorgrams illustrate the binding interactions between the 29-mer/40-mer aptamers and thrombin, showing real-time changes in refractive index. Curves represent the association and dissociation phases, providing insights into the binding kinetics and affinity of the aptamers for thrombin. A & C:  Thrombin was subjected to binding and dissociation tests by flowing gradient-diluted samples over the chip. B & D: Partial experimental results were fitted with 1:1 binding kinetic model in order to calculate dissociation constant (KD).
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'''Figure 4 | SDS-PAGE analysis of protease activity verification in split and full-length PPV constructs.''' Lane M: Marker; Lane Split-2: Split PPVp with 700 nM rapamycin at 10, 30, and 120 min; Lane Split-3: Split PPVp with 1400 nM rapamycin at 10, 30, and 120 min; Lane PPV: Full-length PPVp with its substrate at 10, 30, and 120 min.
  
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The results show that the split PPVp exhibited protease activity, as evidenced by the reduction in substrate over time.
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<table id="af51de83-6f9e-47ac-80e5-50c78fbff04e" class="simple-table"> 
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====Protein Solubility Analysis====
    <tr id="5e2a59f0-2e9d-4074-85a9-f227fcd233a6"> 
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We further examined the solubility of our target proteins. It is achieved by 3s ultrasonication on ice + 10s interval, power 300W, for 40 minutes to completely destruct bacterial structure. Then the sample is centrifuged. The soluble and insoluble components will appear in the supernatant and the precipitate respectively. With 5×SDS loading buffer treated, the two parts can be used for downstream SDS-PAGE analysis. As a control, EGFP, which is soluble in E.coli, is also expressed and analyzed with the same protocol.
      <th id="CLGy" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>Aptamer</strong></th> 
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      <th id="ojEv" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>General Kinetics model</strong></th> 
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      <th id="mqTn" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>Quality Kinetics Chi² (RU²)</strong></th> 
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      <th id="ymfA" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>1:1 binding ka (1/Ms)</strong></th> 
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      <th id="uIQr" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>kd (1/s)</strong></th> 
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      <th id="X]?:" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>KD (M)</strong></th> 
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      <th id="zv:m" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px"><strong>tc</strong></th> 
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      <td id="CLGy" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">29</td> 
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      <td id="ojEv" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1:1 binding</td> 
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      <td id="mqTn" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1.03e0</td> 
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      <td id="ymfA" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">2.14e+5</td> 
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      <td id="uIQr" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1.74e-4</td> 
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      <td id="X]?:" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">8.16e-10</td> 
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      <td id="zv:m" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">4.81e+7</td> 
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      <td id="CLGy" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">40</td> 
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      <td id="ojEv" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1:1 binding</td> 
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      <td id="mqTn" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">4.58e+1</td> 
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      <td id="ymfA" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1.59e+5</td> 
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      <td id="uIQr" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1.85e-1</td> 
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      <td id="X]?:" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">1.17e-6</td> 
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      <td id="zv:m" class="" style="width:98.57142857142857px">5.29e+7</td> 
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'''Table 1 | Parameters fitted from 1:1 binding kinetic model.''' RU: resonance units; ka: association rate constant (M<sup>-1</sup>s<sup>-1</sup>); kd: dissociation rate constant (s<sup>-1</sup>); KD: equilibrium dissociation constant (M); tc: flow rate-independent component of the mass transfer constant.
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'''Figure 5 | Solubility analysis of nPPV.''' SU: supernatant after ultrasonication; PU: precipitate after ultrasonication. The figure shows solubility analysis of the two split enzymes. MW: FRB-nPPV: 24.9kDa; FKBP-cPPV: 27.3kDa. The result shows that almost all of the FRB-nPPV and FKBP-cPPV exist in PU but not SU, which indicates the insoluble state(inclusion body) of the proteins. In contrast, the EGFP control mainly appears in the soluble component(SU), proving the correctness of our protocol. The unlabeled electrophoresis bands are due to sample loading mistakes.
 
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As shown above, aptamer 29 demonstrated a strong affinity for thrombin, with a dissociation constant (KD) of 0.816 nM, while aptamer 40 had a much lower affinity, with a KD of 1170 nM. Due to the high affinity between aptamer 29 and thrombin, the dissociation was incomplete when thrombin concentrations were high, this could be improved by increasing the flow rate during the experiment. A 1:1 binding kinetic model was used based on the assumption that each aptamer binds to a single site on thrombin. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) experiments meticulously verified the binding interactions between aptamers and thrombin. By accurately determining the association and dissociation constants, we have significantly bolstered our confidence in the results obtained from our Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays (EMSA), laying a solid groundwork for the foundational concepts necessary for our subsequent system development.
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===References===
 
===References===
1. Ayass MA, Griko N, Pashkov V, Tripathi T, Zhang J, Ramankutty Nair R, Okyay T, Zhu K, Abi-Mosleh L. New High-Affinity Thrombin Aptamers for Advancing Coagulation Therapy: Balancing Thrombin Inhibition for Clot Prevention and Effective Bleeding Management with Antidote. Cells. 2023 Sep 7;12(18):2230. doi: 10.3390/cells12182230.<br>
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1. Fink, T., Lonzarić, J., Praznik, A., Plaper, T., Merljak, E., Leben, K., Jerala, N., Lebar, T., Strmšek, Ž., Lapenta, F., Benčina, M., & Jerala, R. (2019). Design of fast proteolysis-based signaling and logic circuits in mammalian cells. ''Nature chemical biology'', ''15''(2), 115–122. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0181-6<br>

Latest revision as of 11:37, 28 September 2024

N-terminal of plum pox virus protease (nPPVp), codon optimized for E. coli, 6x His and FRB tagged

Sequence and Features


Assembly Compatibility:
  • 10
    INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
    Illegal PstI site found at 649
  • 12
    INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
    Illegal PstI site found at 649
  • 21
    INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
    Illegal BglII site found at 291
  • 23
    INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
    Illegal PstI site found at 649
  • 25
    INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
    Illegal PstI site found at 649
  • 1000
    COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

Usage and Biology

Split plum pox virus protease (PPVp), also referred to as the nuclear inclusion a protein (NIa), is a key enzyme from the plum pox virus (PPV). It plays a critical role as one of the three viral proteases involved in the maturation of the viral polyprotein into its functional components. Here, we used it as a tool to amplify our detection signal of disease biomarkers.

This part is the coding sequence for N-terminal fragment (nPPVp). 6x His tag was added to the front of the peptide for purification. FRB is a tag in mTOR signaling pathway. It could link with Rapamycin and in cascade form a FKBP-RAP-FRB complex, causing the split protease to heterodimerize and form a functional protease.


Figure 1 | Prediction result of PPVp structure. Cyan portion represents the N-terminal fragment (nPPVp), while green portion represents the C-terminal fragment (cPPVp).

Characterization

Protein Purification

Because our system is an in vitro detection system, it’s essential for us to express proteins and then purify them. We have chosen three strategies to express proteins. Directly expression with 6xHis tag but without solubility tags, expression with both 6xHis tag and solubility tags and expression with cell-free system. Methodology of ours for purification is affinity chromatography. To be specific, we use nickel affinity chromatography to purify proteins with 6xhis tag (with or without solubility tags), and use glutathione affinity chromatography to purify proteins expressed by cell-free system. For nickel affinity chromatography, we use both ÄKTA system and gravity chromatography. For glutathione affinity chromatography, we use ÄKTA system. Furthermore, for proteins that are not expressed with solubility tags or cell-free system, they usually form inclusion bodies and we need new strategy to tackle this tricky problem. On-column refolding is the very solution applied by us. Finally, to test whether the affinity chromatography works as expected, we have done SDS-PAGE analysis to see the purification results.


Figure 2 | Elution profile of nPPV. Peak A stands for transmission peak; peak B stands for elution peak of nPPV.

Figure 3 | SDS-PAGE analysis of the cell lysate, the transmission peak and the elution peak after nickel affinity chromatography through AKTA or gravity chromatography. Lane2-4, total proteins of bacteria expressing cPPV, elution peak, transmission peak of cPPV; Lane5-7, total proteins of bacteria expressing nPPV; Lane9-10, elution peak and transmission peak of nPPV. All the proteins are purified through AKTA. Because of the low resolution of the picture, other bands of low expression proteins can’t be seen.

Protease Activity Verification

Since our system relies on the protease both amplifying the signal and triggering the release of the final colloidal gold output, it is crucial to verify the target protease activity to ensure that the enzymes used in our experiments are active and functioning as expected. To achieve this, we designed a experiment to verify the enzyme activity under controlled conditions (you can find more detailed information about this experiment in our protocol). We validated the activity of two intact proteases and one split protease. For the intact PPV proteases, we mixed a calculated amount of the enzyme with its corresponding substrate and added the appropriate amount of reaction buffer. The mixture was incubated at 30°C, and samples were taken at different time points. The reaction was stopped with SDS loading buffer, followed by electrophoresis. Enzyme activity was confirmed by observing the reduction in substrate and the presence of cleavage product bands. For the split PPV protease, we additionally added a fixed amount of rapamycin to induce protease dimerization and activation.

Figure 4 | SDS-PAGE analysis of protease activity verification in split and full-length PPV constructs. Lane M: Marker; Lane Split-2: Split PPVp with 700 nM rapamycin at 10, 30, and 120 min; Lane Split-3: Split PPVp with 1400 nM rapamycin at 10, 30, and 120 min; Lane PPV: Full-length PPVp with its substrate at 10, 30, and 120 min.

The results show that the split PPVp exhibited protease activity, as evidenced by the reduction in substrate over time.

Protein Solubility Analysis

We further examined the solubility of our target proteins. It is achieved by 3s ultrasonication on ice + 10s interval, power 300W, for 40 minutes to completely destruct bacterial structure. Then the sample is centrifuged. The soluble and insoluble components will appear in the supernatant and the precipitate respectively. With 5×SDS loading buffer treated, the two parts can be used for downstream SDS-PAGE analysis. As a control, EGFP, which is soluble in E.coli, is also expressed and analyzed with the same protocol.

Figure 5 | Solubility analysis of nPPV. SU: supernatant after ultrasonication; PU: precipitate after ultrasonication. The figure shows solubility analysis of the two split enzymes. MW: FRB-nPPV: 24.9kDa; FKBP-cPPV: 27.3kDa. The result shows that almost all of the FRB-nPPV and FKBP-cPPV exist in PU but not SU, which indicates the insoluble state(inclusion body) of the proteins. In contrast, the EGFP control mainly appears in the soluble component(SU), proving the correctness of our protocol. The unlabeled electrophoresis bands are due to sample loading mistakes.

References

1. Fink, T., Lonzarić, J., Praznik, A., Plaper, T., Merljak, E., Leben, K., Jerala, N., Lebar, T., Strmšek, Ž., Lapenta, F., Benčina, M., & Jerala, R. (2019). Design of fast proteolysis-based signaling and logic circuits in mammalian cells. Nature chemical biology, 15(2), 115–122. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0181-6