Part:BBa_K5398002

The 5' intron of td gene from T4 phage

This part is a component of the td intron (5' side), an intron of the td gene from T4 phage belonging to group I introns, which can form a circular mRNA (cmRNA) to make the ribosomes repeatedly translate the extron. This year, we utilized the td intron to produce the squid ring proteins with various long tandem repeats.

We expored different production and purification strategies of target protein produced by cmRNA and examined the function of protein. Simultaneously, we also test the optimal nucleotide length of the td exon between the 5' and 3' intron.

Introduction

Due to special internal structure, the td intron, also called RNA cyclase ribozyme, can splice themselves out without assistance from the spliceosome or other proteins, and instead rely on a free guanosine nucleotide to initiate the splicing reaction in vivo. This process results in joining of the flanking exons and circularization of the intervening intron to produce an intronic circRNA (Fig. 1). So it is a strategy to produce circular RNAs in vivo.

Fig. 1 Mechanism of group I introns. (GOMES R M O da S et al. 2024)

<p>Therefore, an engineering circular mRNA (cmRNA) was designed by employing the RNA cyclase ribozyme mechanism. This elaborate design of cmRNA sequence circularizes the exon to form a back-splice junction (BSJ) in a reaction catalyzed by guanosine. To ensure that the ribosomes do not translate the ORF of gene of interest (GOI) from unprocessed linear mRNA, the ribosome binding sequence (RBS) and start codon ATG were placed downstream of GOI coding sequence. Consequently, the regulatory sequences were located upstream of the coding sequence only after circularization of the mRNA. To purify the resulting polypeptides, a His tag was incorporated into the GOI. If the mRNA is circularized, the ribosome could circle the cmRNA, producing a long repeating polypeptide (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 Design of a circular mRNA based on td flanking introns.

Usage and Biology

In our project, given the positive correlation between number of repeat units and magnitude of cohesive force, we designed a circular mRNA on which the OFR of TRn5 ( BBa_K5398001)) between the 3' and 5' intron of td gene from T4 phage (BBa_K5398002 and BBa_K5398003). This strategy could use short sequences to express highly repetitive squid ring teeth proteins. A self-cleaving RNA cyclase ribozyme was incorporated to form the circular mRNAs, allowing ribosomes to repeatedly translate the sequence of interest and producing proteins with different repeat numbers, thus we could obtain proteins with exceptional self-healing properties.

Characterization

Protein expression

The synthetic plasmid pET29a(+)-cmRNA(TRn5) was transformed into E.coli BL21 (DE3) and recombinant proteins were expressed using LB medium (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 The plasmid map of pET29a(+)-cmRNA(TRn5).

Self-healing test

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  INCOMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]

  Illegal XhoI site found at 35
  
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]

Reference

[1] LIU L, WANG P, ZHAO D, et al. Engineering Circularized mRNAs for the Production of Spider Silk Proteins[J]. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 2022, 88(8): e00028-22.

[2] PERRIMAN R, ARES M. Circular mRNA can direct translation of extremely long repeating-sequence proteins in vivo[J]. RNA, 1998, 4(9): 1047-1054.

[3] LEE S O, XIE Q, FRIED S D. Optimized Loopable Translation as a Platform for the Synthesis of Repetitive Proteins[J]. ACS Cent. Sci., 2021, 7(10): 1736-1750.

[4] OBI P, CHEN Y G. The design and synthesis of circular RNAs[J]. Methods, 2021, 196: 85-103.

[5] GOMES R M O da S, SILVA K J G da, THEODORO R C. Group I introns: Structure, splicing and their applications in medical mycology[J]. Genet. Mol. Biol., 2024, 47: e20230228.