Part:BBa_K3934000

Bovine growth factor FGF2 which induces cell proliferation

Usage & Biology

Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is one of 19 known members of the mammalian FGF family, involved in morphogenesis, development, angiogenesis and wound healing (Plotnikov 2020). It is a mitogen and was first isolated in 1974, from the bovine pituitary and in 1988 human FGF2 was described for the first time (Benington 2020). There are four different FGF receptor tyrosine kinases, to which FGFs bind and induce cell signaling. FGF2 binds FGFR1 and FGFR2 to induce proliferation (Lim 2016). FGFR2 consists of an extracellular domain, a transmembrane helix, and a catalytic intracellular tyrosine kinase domain (Plotnikov 2020). The extracellular domain of the receptor consists of three immunoglobulin-like domains. FGF2 binds to domain 2 (D2) and domain 3 (D3), and the linker region connects the two domains (Plotnikov 2020) (figure x).

Figure x. Crystal structure of FGF2 (green) bound to FGFR2 (cyan). PDB: 1EV2.

When FGF2 binds to the extracellular part of the receptor it causes the receptor to dimerise with another FGF-bound FGFR2, leading to conformational changes which activates the receptor in its intracellular domain and cell signaling is initiated (Xie 2020). Through an intracellular signaling cascade gene regulation occurs in favour of cell proliferation, and cell growth occurs (Xie 2020).

IMAGE - binding & signaling

Inducing cell growth through FGF2 signaling is utilized in the field of cellular agriculture where the growth factor is used in the serum-free growth medium for cultivating meat. Like in a biological system, FGF2 induces cell growth when cultivating meat in a bioreactor. Growth media is however expensive. 55-95% of the production cost of cultivated meat comes from the growth medium (Swartz). To make serum-free media economically feasible on an industrial scale, the medium needs to be optimized. Being one of the most important and most expensive components, FGF2 is one of the targets for improvement (Specht Good Food).

To enable bovine FGF2 for research, a biobrick part to express bovine FGF2 has been designed and tested. This part will make FGF2 more accessible to support future research on medium optimization within cellular agriculture.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

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

  Illegal NheI site found at 277
  
• 21
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]