Part:BBa_K1317003

CDS for Elastin like polypeptide (ELP)

This part is made with a consensus of the natural elastin sequence. Elastin is a protein involved in maintaining shape and elasticity of several tissues like skin. It has a high elasticity and resilience as a polymer.

In our project, the consensus sequence allows the use of a minimal pattern of the protein while keeping these particular properties. In an iGEM spirit the consensus itself can be used as a brick to vary length and nature of the polymers with our other biobricks (BBa_K1317001, BBa_K1317001).

The basic length of a polymer is 20 monomers. The coding sequence can be repeated easily using our improvement of the biobrick assembly system to get rid of the Stop Codon. After variation of the length different properties are attributed to the part. For example it can be used as a fusion tag to purify easily any fuse protein thanks to the thermal cycling purification.

ELP indeed have this particularity to precipitate at lower temperature. If it is used in a protein mixture (a lysate for example) after a few cycles of thermal cycling (from 50°C to 4°C), the pure fuse protein is obtained.

This part can be used as a purification tag for easy, quick and column-free purification or as coding sequence for a polymer usable to get fiber with good elasticity and resilience. The polymer is biocompatible, biodegradable and could be used as a tool for surgery or other health applications.

Usage and Biology

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]

  Illegal NheI site found at 312
  
• 21
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

References

Doreen M. Floss et al. ELASTIN-like polypeptides revolutionize recombinant protein expression and their biomedical application. Trends in Biotechnology Vol.28 No.1 (PMID 19897265)