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Tsuneo Yamane

Publications and source records attributed to Tsuneo Yamane.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Expression of Fab fragment of catalytic antibody 6D9 in an Escherichia coli in vitro coupled transcription/translation system.

The heavy chain (Hc) and light chain (Lc) genes of the Fab fragment of a catalytic antibody 6D9 were simultaneously expressed in an Escherichia coli in vitro transcription/translation system without a reducing agent. The intermolecular disulfide bond between the Hc and Lc was found formed, suggesting a correct formation of the Fab fragment in the in vitro system. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the Fab fragment synthesized in vitro exhibited an antigen-binding activity. Addition of reduced glutathione, oxidized glutathione, protein disulfide-isomerase and molecular chaperones, GroEL and GroES, increased the solubility and the antigen-binding activity of the Fab fragment greatly. The in vitro synthesized Fab was purified by means of a hexa-histidine tag attached to the C-terminus of the Hc. Catalytic assay of the purified Fab fragment showed that the His-tagged Fab fragment synthesized in vitro had a catalytic activity comparable to that produced in vivo.

Antibodies, Catalytic↗

Purification and properties of D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate oligomer hydrolase of Paracoccus denitrificans.

D-(-)-3-Hydroxybutyrate (3HB) oligomer hydrolase was purified from Paracoccus denitrificans. The enzyme was a monomeric protein with an approximate molecular mass of 31 kDa. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 5.2. Optimum temperature and pH were 35-40 degrees C and 8.0, respectively. The enzyme activity was not affected by sulfhydryl reagents but strongly inhibited by serine proteinase inhibitors. Both 3HB trimer and 3HB dimer were hydrolyzed by the enzyme, indicating that the enzyme is not 3HB dimer hydrolase but 3HB oligomer hydrolase. para-Nitrophenyl esters of short-chain fatty acids were also hydrolyzed by the enzyme. 3HB dimer was hydrolyzed somewhat faster than 3HB trimer. The level of the enzyme activity was almost constant, irrespective of carbon sources for the bacterial growth and of the cultivation conditions.

Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases↗

Crystal structure of bovine trypsin and wheat germ trypsin inhibitor (I-2b) complex (2:1) at 2.3 a resolution.

The Bowman-Birk trypsin inhibitor (BBI) from wheat germ (I-2b) consists of 123 amino acid residues with two inhibitory loops. The crystal structure of a bovine trypsin-wheat germ trypsin inhibitor (I-2b) complex (2:1) has been determined at 2.3 A resolution to a final R-factor of 0.177. A distance of 37.2 A between the contiguous contact loops allows them to bind and inhibit two trypsin molecules simultaneously and independently. Each domain shares the same overall fold with 8 kDa BBIs. The five disulfide bridges in each domain are a subset of seven disulfide bridges in the 8 kDa BBIs. I-2b consists of ten beta-strands and the loops connecting these strands but it lacks alpha-helices. The conformations of the contiguous contact loops of I-2b are in a heart-like structure. The reactive sites in both domains, Arg 17 and Lys 76, are located on the loop connecting anti-parallel beta-strands, beta 1/beta 2 and beta 6/beta 7. Strands beta 1 and beta 6 are in direct contact with trypsin molecules and form stable triple stranded beta-sheet structures via hydrogen bonds.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Modifying the chain-length selectivity of the lipase from Burkholderia cepacia KWI-56 through in vitro combinatorial mutagenesis in the substrate-binding site.

The mature lipase of Burkholderia cepacia KWI-56 was synthesized in an enzymatically active form using an in vitro Escherichia coli S30 coupled transcription/translation system by expressing the mature lipase gene (rlip) in the presence of its specific activator. To investigate the substrate specificity of the lipase comprehensively, a large number of mutant lipases were constructed and analyzed in a high throughput manner by combining overlapping PCR and in vitro protein synthesis. In this paper, Phe119 and Leu167, which are located in the acyl portion of the substrate-binding pocket of the lipase of B.cepacia KWI-56, were substituted with six hydrophobic amino acid residues by the in vitro combinatorial mutagenesis. The wild-type and 35 mutant genes amplified by PCR were directly used as templates for the in vitro transcription/translation. The acyl chain-length selectivity of the in vitro expressed lipases against p-nitrophenyl butyrate, p-nitrophenyl caprylate and p-nitrophenyl palmitate, was compared by their relative hydrolysis rates. Two mutant lipases, L167V and F119A/L167M, which showed a significant shift in substrate selectivity were further expressed in vivo and refolded in vitro. It was found that L167V raised its preference for the short-chain ester, whereas F119A/L167M improved its selectivity for the long-chain ester.

Binding Sites↗

A repressor protein, PhaR, regulates polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthesis via its direct interaction with PHA.

Phasins (PhaP) are predominantly polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) granule-associated proteins that positively affect PHA synthesis. Recently, we reported that the phaR gene, which is located downstream of phaP in Paracoccus denitrificans, codes for a negative regulator involved in PhaP expression. In this study, DNase I footprinting revealed that PhaR specifically binds to two regions located upstream of phaP and phaR, suggesting that PhaR plays a role in the regulation of phaP expression as well as autoregulation. Many TGC-rich sequences were found in upstream elements recognized by PhaR. PhaR in the crude lysate of recombinant Escherichia coli was able to rebind specifically to poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] [P(3HB)] granules. Furthermore, artificial P(3HB) granules and 3HB oligomers caused the dissociation of PhaR from PhaR-DNA complexes, but native PHA granules, which were covered with PhaP or other nonspecific proteins, did not cause the dissociation. These results suggest that PhaR is able to sense both the onset of PHA synthesis and the enlargement of the granules through direct binding to PHA. However, free PhaR is probably unable to sense the mature PHA granules which are already covered sufficiently with PhaP and/or other proteins. An in vitro expression experiment revealed that phaP expression was repressed by the addition of PhaR and was derepressed by the addition of P(3HB). Based on these findings, we present here a possible model accounting for the PhaR-mediated mechanism of PHA synthesis. Widespread distribution of PhaR homologs in short-chain-length PHA-producing bacteria suggests a common and important role of PhaR-mediated regulation of PHA synthesis.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Reduction of protein degradation by use of protease-deficient mutants in cell-free protein synthesis system of Escherichia coli.

In an Escherichia coli in vitro transcription/translation system, the degradation of produced proteins is often caused by endogenous proteases from E. coli extracts. To reduce the extent of this degradation, several extracts were prepared from E. coli mutants that genetically lacked DegP, OmpT, or Lon proteases. Then, these extracts were used with 14C-leucine in a system for synthesizing single-chain Fv against gp120 (anti-gp120), and phospholipase D (PLD) of Streptomyces antibioticus. The proteins synthesized in vitro were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and autoradiography. The use of extracts from mutants that were deficient in the structural genes encoding OmpT and Lon markedly repressed the degradation of anti-gp120. Similarly, extracts from degP- and ompT-deleted mutants were able to significantly stabilize in vitro-synthesized PLD, which otherwise disappeared within 30 min. Such protease-deficient mutants were suggested to be useful for preventing the degradation of heterologous proteins in in vitro systems.

Journal Article↗

Chimeric gene library construction by a simple and highly versatile method using recombination-dependent exponential amplification.

A simple and efficient method for the construction of chimeric gene libraries termed RDA-PCR (recombination-dependent exponential amplification polymerase chain reaction) was developed by modifying polymerase chain reaction. A chimeric gene library is generated from homologous parental genes with additional primer-annealing sequences at their "heads" and "tails". Two primers ("skew primers") are designed to exclusively anneal to either the heads of maternal genes or the tails of paternal genes. During the RDA-PCR, short annealing/extension periods facilitate homologous recombination. The chimeric sequences can be exponentially amplified to form the chimeric gene library, whereas parental sequences without crossovers are not amplified. As a model, we constructed a chimeric gene library of yellow and green fluorescent protein (yfp and gfp, respectively). The crossover point profile of RDA-PCR clones was compared with those obtained by (modified) family shuffling. PCR restriction fragment polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the RDA-PCR clones showed a high content of chimeric genes in the library, whereas family shuffling required the modification using skew primers for selective enrichment of chimeric sequences. PCR-RFLP analysis also indicated that the crossover points of RDA-PCR chimeras were distributed over the entire protein-coding region. Moreover, as few as 2 bp of the continual identity of nucleotides were found at the crossover points at high frequency (30% of the tested clones), suggesting that RDA-PCR resulted in a higher diversity in crossover points than family shuffling.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Enhanced cell-free protein synthesis using a S30 extract from Escherichia coli grown rapidly at 42 degrees C in an amino acid enriched medium.

Growths of Escherichia coli strain A19 were investigated in a 5-L fermentor at 37 and 42 degrees C either in Pratt's medium (a standard medium for cell-free protein synthesis using its S30 extract) or in a casamino acids supplemented Pratt's medium (aa-enriched medium). Specific growth rates in Pratt's medium at 37 and 42 degrees C were 0.77 and 0.46 h(-1), respectively, whereas those in the aa-enriched medium at 37 and 42 degrees C were 0.87 and 1.49 h(-1), respectively. The extent of cell-free chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) synthesis was compared at 37 degrees C incubation (from a plasmid pK7-CAT) for S30 extracts prepared from the cells cultured in the aa-enriched medium at 37 or 42 degrees C. A 40% increase in CAT synthesis occurred when the 42 degrees C/S30 extract was used as compared with 37 degrees C/S30 extract. CAT and both the light and heavy chains (Lc and Hc) of the Fab fragment of an antibody 6D9 were synthesized at 37 degrees C in the cell-free synthesis in the presence of [(14)C]Leu. Their reaction mixtures were subjected to SDS-PAGE autoradiographic analysis. It was found that most of the synthesized proteins were in the soluble fraction when 42 degrees C/S30 extract was used, suggesting that the 42 degrees C/S30 extract contained greater amounts of various protein folding factors. A dialysis membrane minibioreactor with a reaction volume ca. 0.5 mL was handmade by the authors. The advantages of the minibioreactor are a simple configuration, a low manufacturing cost, and the capability of the dialysis membrane replacement. Increased CAT synthesis was also observed for continuous exchange cell-free (CECF) protein synthesis at 37 degrees C when the 42 degrees C/S30 extract was used in the minibioreactor. Some plausible reasons to give higher protein synthesis activity of the 42 degrees C/S30 extract are discussed.

Amino Acids↗

A novel strategy for generation of monoclonal antibodies from single B cells using rt-PCR technique and in vitro expression.

Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) are important biomolecules in immunology and have widespread applications in prognosis, diagnosis, and therapeutics. Here, we describe a novel approach called single-cell RT-PCR-linked in vitro expression (SICREX), which enables the high-throughput generation and screening of Mabs. This approach entails the isolation of B cells from immunized mouse spleen or human peripheral blood using magnetic microbeads conjugated with a B-cell-selective marker, anti-CD19. The light chain (Lc) and Fd portion of heavy-chain (Hc) genes of each cell are separately amplified by RT-PCR and then combined with the sequences of a T7 promoter, a ribosome binding site (rbs), and a T7 terminator by an overlapping PCR technique. The paired full-length DNA fragments of Lc and Hc genes from single B cells are simultaneously expressed by an Escherichia coli in vitro transcription and translation system followed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to find positive fragments possessing the affinity for the antigen. From spleen cells of an immunized mouse with calcium binding protein 40, a Fab fragment with K(d) of 1.6 (+/- 0.3) x 10(-8) against the antigen was obtained. From human peripheral blood, Fab fragments against a blood group B-BSA were obtained in a similar manner. The SICREX approach is simple, rapid and versatile, allowing the high-throughput generation of naturally paired Lc and Hc with antigen-binding activity from various animal sources.

Amino Acid Sequence↗