Part:BBa_K4665005
SazCA-INPN Membrane Display Module
Usage and Biology
Biomineralization is the process by which living organisms synthesise minerals (Dhami et al., 2013). Microbial calcium carbonate production can proceed through two main metabolic pathways, using urease or carbonic anhydrase (CA) as the catalysts of the reaction (Chaparro-Acuña et al., 2019). However, synthesis through urea hydrolysis produces toxic byproducts which is not observed in the CA catalyzed pathway.
SazCA, derived from the thermophilic bacterium Sulfurihydrogenibium azorense, is the fastest known carbonic anhydrase to date, with an approximate kcat/KM value of 3.5 × 108 M−1 s−1 (De Simone et al, 2015; De Luca et al., 2013). SazCA facilitates the hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate and protons, creating alkaline conditions that aid the formation of calcium carbonate crystals on the extracellular matrix (EPS) of bacterial cells (Fig. 1) (Anbu, et al., 2016).
This composite part consists of three basic parts:
2) GGGGS linker: The GGGGS flexible linker is composed of a sequence of 4 glycine repeats followed by a serine amino acid. This flexible linker is used to connect the N-terminal of the INP to the carbonic anhydrase which creates an elongated fusion mode that allows for optimal carbonic anhydrase stability (Hartmann et al., 2022; Zhu et al., 2022).
3) SazCA: This sequence codes for the carbonic anhydrase derived from Sulfurihydrogenibium azorense (SazCA). This sequence has been codon optimised for E. coli. The SazCA coding sequence is followed by a His-tag which facilitates the purification and detection of the fusion protein.
Zhu et al. (2022) were able to show that the surface display of the INP-SazCA fusion protein significantly elevates the enzyme’s stability, optimising whole-cell activity at 25°C and pH 9, retaining minimal metal inhibition.
Characterisation
Expression:
After successful transformation into BL21 DE3 E. coli, the expression of our recombinant protein was tested. The construct is preceded by the T7 promoter, therefore expression of recombinant protein can be induced through addition of Isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). Liquid overnight cultures of the transformed E. coli were induced with IPTG and samples were taken at different incubation times. Membrane protein extraction was performed by incubation with NPI-10 buffer followed by sonication. SDS PAGE and Western Blot was performed with antibodies that bind to the 6X-His tag attached at the end of the fusion protein. Previous iterations of the Western Blot revealed the problem of a leaky T7 promoter in our recombinant plasmid, leading to protein expression in absence of IPTG. Previous research has shown that addition of glucose to BL21 DE3 bacterial culture can reduce the background expression of the uninduced gene (Pan & Malcolm, 2000). In our Western Blot we tested various controls, the transformed BL21 DE3 cultures induced with IPTG at different time intervals and the transformed BL21 DE3 cultures that were grown overnight in the presence of glucose. Prior to IPTG induction, the glucose-containing medium was removed from the 0.5% and 1% glucose samples and they were resuspended in normal LB medium to prevent reduced expression of SazCA during IPTG induction.
Figure 3. Protein ladder
1. Not induced GG3B
2. Negative control BL21 DE3
3. Not induced 0.5% glucose
4. Not induced 1% glucose
5. IPTG Induced GG3B 1hr
6. Induced GG3B 0.5% 1hr
7. Induced GG3B 1% hr
Figure 4. Protein ladder -
8. IPTG Induced GG3B 2hr
9. Induced GG3B 0.5% 2hr
10. Induced GG3B 1% 2hr
The absence of a band in the BL21 DE3 control confirms that the observed bands in uninduced samples are due to a leaky T7 promoter and not due to the presence of native histidine-rich proteins expressed in BL21 DE3 E. coli . The results show that the addition of 0.5% or 1% glucose in the growth medium leads to reduced expression of the recombinant protein in the uninduced samples. However, despite the removal of the glucose-containing medium, the samples that contained the glucose showed reduced expression during IPTG induction. Our recombinant protein was most abundant in the transformed BL21 DE3 culture that had been induced with IPTG for 2 hours.
Protein Quantification
Cells from liquid culture (LB + Kanamycin + 0.5 mM ZnSO4 + 0.5 mM IPTG) were sonicated to lyse the cell membrane. Prior to the procedure, cells were centrifuged and shocked at -80℃ for 1h. Pellets were resuspended in 3x volume of NPI-10 buffer (50mM NaH2PO4, 300mM NaCl, 10mM Imidazole) and left on ice for 30 minutes. Samples were sonicated on ice using a 40 kHz pulse applied for 30s, followed by a 2 min pause. This sonication step was repeated 10 times. Given the fact that the construct is a protein embedded protein, a cell fractionation step should be followed by sonication. Unfortunately, this step was not performed due to lack of proper available equipment (ultracentrifuge). Protein extraction was performed using affinity chromatography with HisPur™ Ni-NTA Resin (ThermoFisher), optimising yield through the addition of Triton-100X to the protein buffers to reduce nonspecific interactions with untagged proteins. Extracted proteins were preliminarily quantified using a NanoDrop microvolume UV-Vis spectrophotometer set at 280 nm. A Bradford assay was carried out in order to determine protein concentration for the SazCA-INPN mineralisation module. A low working range (1-25µg/mL) microplate protocol was followed according to NanoDrop values. Working volumes of standard/sample was 150µL, with an equal volume of Bradford Protein Assay Reagent (ThermoFisher). Absorbance was measured at 595nm using a microplate reader. Average protein concentration was determined to be 68.34 µg/mL (0.5 mM ZnSO4 + 0.5 mM IPTG).
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
In Vitro Mineralization:
To test the ability of engineered BL21(DE3) E. coli strain to precipitate CaCO3, we performed an in vitro mineralisation assay, adapting Zhu, et al. 's technique. Bacteria were cultured overnight in 30mL of LB +Kanamycin medium and 0.5 mM ZnSO4 at 25℃. IPTG induction was performed 3 hours prior to experimentation. The assay was run on 8 mL Tris-HCl buffer 8.3 and 50mL of saturated CO2 aqueous solution at 0℃. 3 mL of cell pellet were introduced into the solution, and the reaction was allowed to proceed on ice for an hour. At this point, the bacteria should have been able to produce bicarbonate ions. Cells were removed from the solution by centrifugation (15 min x 5000g). 25mL of a 0.3M solution of CaCl2 was added to the remaining supernatant as a calcium source. The reaction was left to run at 25℃ for 12h. Samples were filtered using vacuum filtration and dried at 50℃ to evaporate the solvent. Solid mass was weighed and recorded as “Wet Weight”. Upon preliminary analysis of FT-IR data, it was concluded that the mineral sample contained a large amount of water, elucidated by the stretching O-H peak at 3400 cm.1. Hence, the sample was dried further in liquid nitrogen for 48 hours, final weight was recorded at 2.3 g (yield=306.17%). Precipitated dry crystals were analysed using ATR-IR.
ATR-IR
Figure 7.
Precipitated dry crystals were analysed using ATR-IR. IR results were analysed along a biological control, consisting of a reaction using unmodified BL21 bacteria, as well as a blank chemical reaction between the saturated aqueous CO2 solution and CaCl2, without any biological component. Samples were compared to three standards: commercial CaCO3 in the calcite phase, a sample of limestone sourced from the Maastricht quarry (in vaterite phase), and a reference spectrum for bacterially precipitated CaCO3 retrieved from the National Institute of Standards and Technology,(n.d.). IR analysis indicates that the engineered bacteria successfully precipitated calcium carbonate, as opposed to samples from the bacterial control and blank reaction. The IR spectrum for the BL21 sample and the blank reaction show similar peak and shift patterns at around 3500-3400 cm-1 indicative of H bonded oxygen. Peaks at 3000-2800 cm-1, 2280 cm-1 and 1600 cm-1 indicate water presence on both samples. Peaks at 1400-1000 cm-1 are indicative of ethanol contamination. Peaks between 900-700 cm-1 do not correspond to carbonate vibrations, corroborated by the lack of a strong peak at 1400 cm-1.
Figure 8.
The IR spectrum from the SazCA bacteria (SIMD CaCO3) shows bands corresponding to the vibrations of carbonate (CO32–): The sharp peak around 1400-1500 cm-1 can be attributed to the symmetric stretching vibration of the carbonate. Vibrational bands at 872.251 and 712.251 cm-1 align with the carbonate out-of-plane bending (v2 mode) and in-plane bending (ν4 mode) vibrations of calcite (Zhou et al., 2004; Levi et al., 1998). Furthermore, the absence of peaks at 744 and 1086 cm-1 indicates that the compound is not vaterite (Ivanova et al., 2023); and the absence of peaks at 1080, 854, and 700 cm-1 characteristic of aragonite ( Levi et al., 1998), indicate that the CaCO3 mineralised by the bacteria is closer to the crystalline phase of calcite.
Figure 9.
However, the IR spectrum for the bacterial sample shows peaks corresponding to biocontamination. Split peaks 3400 and 1600 cm-1 and noise peaks at 2100m-1 suggest the presence of organic materials in the sample, although they are aligned to the peaks from the precipitated CaCO3 sample from NIST. Hence, there is reason to believe that these peaks are correlated with the method of precipitation, and are therefore irrelevant in this setting. X-Ray diffraction should still be performed to address the slightly shifted values for calcite, and confirm the phase state of the compound.
ThermoGravimetric Analysis
Figure 12.
Further characterisation of the SazCA-BL21 precipitated CaCO3 was performed through ThermoGravimetric Analysis (TGA). Degradation temperatures for calcium carbonate range between 800-850℃. Typical weight loss initiates within the temperature range of 650-750°C. This range is associated with the thermal process of CO2 removal from CaCO3 (Siva et al., 2017). Experimentally, the sample shows a weight decrease (Δ3.239%) between 66.7-119.41°C corresponding to the dehydration of physically absorbed water by the sample. CO2 removal can be observed between 654.48 and 748.43°C. The adjacent segment elucidates the degradation of CaCO3, observed by the increased steepness of the TGA and the high value of the weight derivative at 877.51°C, which indicates the loss of a large proportion of the sample. The slightly shifted value of degradation for the sample may be reasonably attributed to the composition being potentially calcite. This alteration in degradation temperature aligns with the principle that more stable structures exhibit greater resistance to heat.
Enzymatic Activity of SazCA
To measure the activity of the SazCA construct, a colorimetric Wilbur Anderson assay was adapted from Kim & Jo (2022). The assay measures the ability of carbonic anhydrase to hydrate CO2. Protons released during the hydration reaction cause a decrease in the pH of the solution. Such displacement of H+ can be recorded as a function of time taken for pH to shift from ~8.3 to ~6.3
CO2(aq) + H2O → HCO3− + H+
Standard activity assays directly measure the pH change of the reaction mixture with electrodes. However, it was soon discovered that this setup would be difficult for us to achieve and the bubbling of CO2 gas would act as a limitation for controlling the concentration of CO2 administered for the reaction.The colorimetric approach taken for the assay indirectly measured the change of pH by recording the colour change of phenol red upon the addition of SazCA. A reaction buffer of 20mM Tris pH. 8.4 (pKa=8.1) and 100µM phenol red (pKa=7.9) was used. Phenol red was chosen as the pH indicator as it shifts colours from pink to yellow over a pH range of ~8.4 to ~6.4.
To derive control values, several ratios of buffer to CO2(aq) were tested in order to assign the effectiveness of the reaction buffer upon the addition of saturated CO2 solution. This was measured by colour change. The objective was to identify the buffer-to-solution ratio that would result in an absorbance value of 1.034 (pH ~7.3), within the chosen experimental duration, which was set as the baseline condition for all experimental samples. For each reaction, 800 µL of reaction buffer and 200 µL of saturated CO2 solution were used. Ranging volumes of SazCA-BL21 liquid culture were used: 10µL, 20µL, 30µL, 40µL and 50µL. All reactions were run in triplo. Saturated CO2 solution was prepared through addition of dry ice into double-distilled water under constant stirring until complete saturation was achieved (no more dissolution of dry ice perceived).
Data collection was performed by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, measuring absorbance change at 560 nm using the kinetics function of the spectrophotometer, recording every 0.1 min for 10 minutes. All reactions were performed ice-cold. Absorbance values for pH-adjusted reaction buffer were obtained as colorimetric reference at 8.4 (abs=2.079), 7.4 (1.034), and 6.4(abs=0.268).
Following the measurement of absorbance values for each SazCA-BL21 volume and the control, the averaged absorbance values were plotted to visualise the trends. The time at which each line reached an absorbance of 0.268 was derived. Qualitatively, it was observed that as the volume of SazCA-BL21 increased, the time required for the absorbance to reach 0.268 decreased:
SazCA-BL21 volume (µL) | pH at 8.57 minutes | ΔpH value (Ref. pH 8.4) |
---|---|---|
10 | 6.89671641791045 | 1.50328358208955 |
20 | 6.7820895522388 | 1.6179104477612 |
30 | 6.01958208955224 | 2.38041791044776 |
40 | 6.44823880597015 | 1.95176119402985 |
50 | 6.59653731343283 | 1.80346268656717 |
Notably, samples containing bacteria exhibit a rapid decrease in absorbance prior to reaching a plateau (Fig.?), which could potentially be elucidated by the point at which these samples achieve uniform coloration throughout the entire cuvette.
(pHinitial x absfinal) / absinitial = pHfinal
The average pH value was determined at 6.393 for SazCA-BL21 samples, indicating a 0.875 difference in pH (S.D.= 0.0159) attributed to the production of bicarbonate ions produced by SazCA. Individual ΔpH values for each bacterial volume can be found in Table 2.
SazCA-BL21 volume (µL) | pH at 8.57 minutes | ΔpH value (Ref. pH 8.4) | |
---|---|---|---|
10 | 6.89671641791045 | 1.50328358208955 | |
20 | 6.7820895522388 | 1.6179104477612 | |
30 | 6.01958208955224 | 2.38041791044776 | |
40 | 6.44823880597015 |
None |