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A combinatorial approach of N-terminus blocking and codon optimization strategies to enhance the soluble expression of recombinant hIL-7 in E. coli fed-batch culture

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Abstract

Human interleukin-7 (hIL-7) is a therapeutically important cytokine involved in lymphocyte development and survival. In previous reports, a uniformly poor expression of hIL-7 has been shown in Escherichia coli host with the problem of inclusion body formation. In this study, the role of codon optimization and N-terminus blocking using various solubility enhancer fusion tags was explored to improve its soluble expression. The use of codon optimization strategy improved its expression to 80 ± 5 mg/L at shake flask level. The utilization of pelB leader sequence resulted in an unprocessed protein in the form of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies with lower expression yields. The N-terminus fusion of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO), thioredoxin (Trx), and NusA tags increased the expression in the range of 90–140 mg/L, where >90 % of the fusion protein was obtained in soluble form. The fed-batch fermentation of SUMO-tagged hIL-7 protein was optimized at bioreactor level, where a high volumetric product concentration of 2.65 g/L was achieved by controlling the plasmid segregation instability using high antibiotic concentration. The specific product yield (YP/X) and volumetric product concentration were 1.38 and 2.55-fold higher compared to batch results, respectively. A preparative scale affinity chromatography resulted in a high recovery yield of 50.6 mg/L with ∼90 % purity. The conformational property of purified recombinant hIL-7 from CD spectroscopy showed a typical helical structure with 31.5 % α-helix and 26.43 % β-sheet. The biological activity of purified protein was tested using IL-7-dependent murine immature B lymphocyte (2E8) cell line by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide salt (MTT) assay, where it showed a similar biological activity as standard control.

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Acknowledgements

Nirmala Devi and Adivitiya are the recipients of a senior research fellowship from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India, New Delhi, respectively.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, 110021, India

    Nirmala Devi,  Adivitiya & Yogender Pal Khasa

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  1. Nirmala Devi
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  2. Adivitiya
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  3. Yogender Pal Khasa
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Correspondence to Yogender Pal Khasa.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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This work was financially supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, New Delhi, through grant number BT/PR15076/GBD/27/299/2011.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Devi, N., Adivitiya & Khasa, Y.P. A combinatorial approach of N-terminus blocking and codon optimization strategies to enhance the soluble expression of recombinant hIL-7 in E. coli fed-batch culture. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 9979–9994 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7683-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7683-5

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