Human ferritin di-subunit with E coil w/ LacI promoter
This part was created by fusing the heavy chain and light chains (BBa_K1189024BBa_K1189025) of human ferritin together (sequences from: P02794 and P02792 [UniParc]). It is expressed under the lacI promoter (BBa_J04500) and has a his-tag for protein purification. An E-coil (BBa_K1189011) is included in order to allow binding of parts containing the respective K-coil (BBa_K1189010). Characterization of this part was done primarily with commercially purchased ferritin, which is structurally very similar to this recombinant ferritin (Figure 1).
This construct can be used as a reporter through a modification of the iron core to form Prussian Blue (Figure 2). The resulting molecule can then catalyze the formation of radicals from hydrogen peroxide, which can then cause a colour change in substrates such as TMB or ABTS (Figure 3) (Zhang et al., 2013).
This protein is a highly robust protein, remaining stable under extreme pH, temperature, and denaturing conditions. It is also highly accepting of fusion proteins, as it continues to form the nanoparticle despite fusions to both N-terminus and C-terminus. In addition, proteins fused to this protein have been found to be stabilized due to the fusion.
Applications of BBa_K1189018
The main purpose of this page is to display the characterization data of Prussian blue chemically modified commercial horse spleen ferritin as a catalyst. This ferritin is extremely similar to our constructed ferritin and we do not anticipate any differences in their properties. Next we show how our own constructed ferritin displays the same catalytic activity. At the end we show how the coil found in this part can bind to coils found on our other parts.
Kinetic Analysis of Prussian Blue Ferritin
We performed a kinetic analysis of our Prussian blue ferritin. We included a comparison of Prussian blue horse spleen ferritin to regular horse spleen ferritin for both TMB and ABTS (Figures 1 and 2). For both of the substrates we can see that normal ferritin has a very low catalytic activity compared to our modified ferritin. Using this data were able to determine the Michaelis-Menten catalytic constants for Prussian blue ferritin with different substrates.
In order to complete our kinetic analysis we had to determine the catalytic properties of our Prussian blue ferritin according to the Michaelis-Menten kinetic model. For these tests we varied the colourimetric substrate concentrations (ABTS and TMB) (Figures 3 and 4). We also varied the hydrogen peroxide concentration in association with TMB as this the first chemical compound that will react in the system (Figure 5).
Table 1. Catalytic constants for our Prussian blue ferritin
Catalyst
Enzyme Concentration (M)
Substrate
Km (mM)
Vmax (Ms-1)
Kcat (s-1)
Kcat/Km (M-1s-1)
Prussian Blue Ferritin
1.31 x 10-9
ABTS
0.448
1.25 x 10-8
9.51
2.12 x 104
Prussian Blue Ferritin
1.31 x 10-9
TMB
0.0432
1.12 x 10-7
85.3
1.97 x 106
Prussian Blue Ferritin
1.44 x 10-9
H2O2 (TMB)
0.0176
1.45 x 10-8
10.1
5.71 x 105
pH Optimization of Prussian blue Ferritin
We also performed a pH optimization of our Prussian blue ferritin using the substrates TMB and ABTS (Figure 6 and 7). The results show TMB to be a much more robust substrate, showing high catalytic activity across a more broad range of pH compared to ABTS.
Temperature Optimization of Prussian Blue Ferritin
Another aspect of our analysis was determining the optimal temperature for catalytic activity of Prussian blue ferritin (Figure 8 and 9). This showed us that the Prussian blue reporter has a much higher catalytic activity at higher temperatures.
Prussian Blue Ferritin on Nitrocellulose
The next aspect of our analysis was to see how Prussian blue ferritin would act in a catalytic sense on nitrocellulose (Figures 10 and 11). From these results we can that TMB is a better substrate on for use on nitrocellulose(Figure 11). With this substrate we saw a result from only 5 ng of Prussian blue ferritin present on the nitrocellulose.
Making Prussian Blue out of This Part
We applied a scaled down Prussian blue synthesis experiment to our own ferritinOur own Prussian blue ferritin was then exposed to the TMB substrate (Figure 12). From the results we can see that the ferritin with the E-coil attached had excellent catalytic activity.