Phosphatase-immunodepleted cell-free protein synthesis system (2023)

Cell-free protein synthesis systems are powerful tools for protein expression, and allow large amounts of specific proteins to be obtained even if these proteins are detrimental to cell survival. In this report we describe the effect of cysteine on cell-free protein synthesis. The addition of cysteine caused a 2.7-fold increase in the level of synthesized glutathione S-transferase (GST). Moreover, the levels of sulfhydryl group reductants, including reduced glutathione and dithiothreitol (DTT), were increased 1.9- and 1.7-fold, respectively, whereas levels of the disulfide dimers, cystine and oxidized glutathione, were suppressed 87% and 66%, respectively. These trends were also observed for green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression. The addition of cysteine competitively reversed the inhibitory effect of cystine on protein expression. These results suggest that the sulfhydryl group in cysteine plays a crucial role in enhancing protein synthesis, and that the addition of excess cysteine could be a convenient and useful method for improving protein expression.

Cell-free synthesis of an infectious virus is an ideal tool for elucidating the mechanism of viral replication and for screening anti-viral drugs. In the present study, the synthesis of Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) from its RNA in HeLa and 293-F cell extracts was enhanced by employing a dialysis system in combination with a ribozyme technology. Although translation and processing of the EMCV polyprotein were not accelerated greatly by the dialysis system, de novo synthesis of viral RNA was enhanced considerably by dialysis, leading to a greater than eight-fold increased titer of synthesized EMCV compared with a conventional batch system. Furthermore, a synthetic EMCV RNA with a hammerhead ribozyme sequence at its 5′-end served as an efficient template for viral synthesis in the dialysis system. Therefore, this system provides opportunities for mutational analyses of EMCV in vitro.

Cell-free expression techniques have emerged as promising tools for the production of membrane proteins for structural and functional analysis. Elimination of toxic effects and a variety of options to stabilize the synthesized proteins enable the synthesis of otherwise difficult to obtain proteins. Modifications in the reaction design result in preparative scale production rates of cell-free reactions and yield in milligram amounts of membrane proteins per one millilitre of reaction volume. A diverse selection of detergents can be supplied into the reaction system without inhibitory effects to the translation machinery. This offers the unique opportunity to produce a membrane protein directly into micelles of a detergent of choice. We present detailed protocols for the cell-free production of membrane proteins in different modes and we summarize the current knowledge of this technique. A special emphasize will be on the production of soluble and functionally folded membrane proteins in presence of suitable detergents. In addition, we will highlight the advantages of cell-free expression for the structural analysis of membrane proteins especially by liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and we will discuss new strategies for structural approaches.

Limitations in amino acid supply have been recognized as a substantial problem in cell-free protein synthesis reactions. Although enzymatic inhibitors and fed-batch techniques have been beneficial, the most robust way to stabilize amino acids is to remove the responsible enzymatic activities by genetically modifying the source strain used for cell extract preparation. Previous work showed this was possible for arginine, serine, and tryptophan, but cysteine degradation remained a major limitation in obtaining high protein synthesis yields. Through radiolabel techniques, we confirmed that cysteine degradation was caused by the activity of glutamate-cysteine ligase (gene gshA) in the cell extract. Next, we created Escherichia coli strain KC6 that combines a gshA deletion with previously described deletions for arginine, serine, and tryptophan stabilization. Strain KC6 grows well, and active cell extract can be produced from it for cell-free protein synthesis reactions. The extract from strain KC6 maintains stable amino acid concentrations of all 20 amino acids in a 3-h batch reaction. Yields for three different proteins improved 75–250% relative to cell-free expression using the control extract.

In an E. coli cell-free protein synthesis system, the addition of an inorganic polyphosphate [poly(P)] with polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP), which regenerates AMP to ADP, increased the amount of protein synthesis. The maximum yield of the translation product (green fluorescent protein) in the E. coli cell-free system provided by Roche Diagnostics (RTS-100) was 1.16 mg/ml under the optimum reaction condition, which corresponded to a 5.7-fold of that obtained under the standard reaction condition described in the manufacturer's protocol. Interestingly, poly(P) alone enhanced protein synthesis to some extent. When we added poly(P) to the reaction mixture, ATP was consumed at a faster rate, leading to a rapid accumulation of AMP. By adding both poly(P) and PAP to the reaction mixture, an efficient ATP regeneration reaction derived from AMP occurred and the ATP level was recovered. Since the protein synthesis enhancement by poly(P) was also observed when mRNA was added as the template in the reaction, poly(P) accelerated the translation reaction by directly affecting the translation machinery. This also occurred when we used the Pure-system Classic Mini kit (Post Genome Institute) that contained the minimum requirements (pure enzymes and chemicals) for translation and transcription. We also observed that poly(P) extended the half-life of the mRNA template.

We found that the affinity tag fused to the carboxyl (C-) terminal of a single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody was proteolytically degraded in a wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system. The addition of two extra residues of glycine to the tail of the cMyc tag significantly increased the stability of the tag, suggesting that wheat endogenous carboxypeptidase(s) play a primary role in the C-terminal tag-specific degradation. In addition to the modification of the tag sequence, addition of diisopropyl fluorophosphate, which is known as an inhibitor of carboxypeptidases, prevented the cMyc tag sequence degradation. The effects of other protease inhibitors on the translation reaction and stability of the synthesized protein are also reported.