SIU

BIOTECHNOLOGY - MICR 421


Chapter 8. Directed Mutagenesis and Protein Engineering.


I. Oligonucleotide Directed Mutagenesis

II. Random Mutagenesis

III. Error-prone PCR

IV. DNA shuffling

V. Protein Engineering


Effects of Mutations* on Protein Properties

*A change in the nucleotide sequence of a gene.

Ex.

5'-----TTT----- encodes phenylalanine, a hydrophobic amino acid

 

5'-----TAT----- a point mutation that changes the codon to one that encodes tyrosine, a polar amino acid

The single amino acid change may alter the protein's structure or activity (or may have no effect)

Millions of years of evolution have selected for the wild type amino acid sequence of a protein

Most mutations have a negative effect, rarely are beneficial to host (or biotechnologist)

Difficult to predict the effects of most mutations

Exceptions: (these aren't the ones you want to make usually)

Silent mutations -no effect

Nonsense mutations -create a stop codon within the coding region, causes expression of a truncated protein, not functional

Insertions/deletions -altered reading frame, produces wrong amino acid sequence

So, making improvements or designing proteins for biotechnological applications is not easy



Uses for Directed Mutagenesis

I. Increase expression levels

1. Alter sequence of promoters, operators, terminators, ribosome-binding site

2. Change codons of gene to those preferred by host

 

II. Engineering proteins with desired properties


Enzyme

1. Enzyme activity: Substrate -----------> Product

Increase affinity for substrate (lower Km)

Increase maximum rate of the reaction (increase Vmax )

Prevent product and other compounds from inhibiting activity

Alter substrate specificity

Broaden: To include other substrates or

Narrow : Eliminate production of unwanted products

 

2. Alter biological activity.

Ex. Hormones, immune system effectors, biological pesticides

 

3. Protein stability. Increase resistance to:

Degradation by proteases

Denaturation by organic solvents or extreme temperature and pH

 

4. Regulatory proteins -- to manipulate expression

Ex.. Alter effector specificity



Oligonucleotide-Directed Mutagenesis

Should know nucleotide sequence of DNA that you want to change

Chemically synthesize an oligonucleotide with the desired change

Use as a primer for synthesis of the gene using a DNA polymerase (Klenow fragment)


Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis (site-specific mutagenesis) with M13 bacteriophage

M13 is a bacteriophage that infects E. coli

-One of smallest phages
-Genome is circular, 6407 nucleotides of single-stranded DNA, encodes only 10 genes,

Replication cycle

Stage 1. Infection of an E. coli cell occurs when the + (plus) form of single stranded (ss) M13 DNA is injected into the cytoplasm

A complementary DNA strand is then synthesized producing a double-stranded (ds) circular molecule (replicative form, RF)

Stage 2. RF DNA is replicated to produce 100 to 200 daughter ds RF molecules

Stage 3. ds RF produce ss + strand molecules which are coated with a capsid as they exit the cell without causing lysis

 

Used as a vector for mutagenesis because it produces single stranded DNA needed for hybridization to mutagenic oligonucleotide primers

See Fig. 8.1

1. Synthesize an oligonucleotide containing the changed sequence

Ex.

---ATT--- Wild type sequence (a codon for Ile)

---CTT--- Desired change (Leu)

---GAA--- Mutagenic oligonucleotide

2. Hybridize the mutagenic oligonucleotideto single stranded form of gene cloned into M13

Use low stringency hybridization conditions (low temperature + high ionic strength --see below)

3. Synthesize second strand of DNA with DNA polymerase (Klenow fragment) and dNTPs

4. Seal nick in new strand with T4 DNA ligase

5. Introduce into E. coli where Stage 2 replication produces more ds molecules

Semiconservative replication results in 1/2 of ds DNA molecules with the mutation and the other 1/2 with the wild-type sequence

6. After Stage 3 of phage replication, ss + phage are isolated from plaques and screened by hybridization to the original mutagenic oligonucleotid (appropriately labeled for detection)

Hybridization is performed under high stringency conditions (high temperature, lower salt) to prevent hybridization to the wild-type sequence

Stringency of DNA Hybridization Conditions

The stringency of the hybridization conditions affects the stregnth of hydrogen bonding between complementary base pairs of two DNA strands.

1. Conditions that do not disrupt hydrogen bonds have low stringency

Low hybridization temperature, ~40OC, or high salt concentration

Some mismatched basepairs can be present

AAGCAAGCATGC
TGCGTCCGTGCG

 

2. Conditions that weaken hydrogen bonds have high stringency

High temperature ~65OC, or low salt concentration, or organic solvents (e.g. dimethylformamide)

The nucleotide sequences of the two strands must be highly complimentary for hybridization to occur

ATGCATGCATGC
TACGTACGTACG


Oligonucleotide-Directed Mutagenesis Using a Plasmid Vector

This method increases the chances of obtaining the desired mutation in the target

See Fig. 8.3

Introduce mutations into target gene and 2 antibiotic resistance genes (ampicillin and tetracycline)

The tetracycline resistance gene protects cells that contain the vector from exposure to tetracycline

The ampicillin resistance gene contains a mutation that encodes an inactive form of beta-lactamase

Cells containing the vector are sensitive to and killed by ampicillin

One oligonucleotide corrects the mutation in the ampicillin resistance gene, and cells that contain the vector become resistant to ampicillin

A second oligonucleotide introduces a mutation into the tetracycline resistance gene, making cells that contain it sensitive to tetracycline

A third mutagenic oligonucleotide introduces the desired mutation into the target gene

After introducing the mutagenized vector into the host, cells that are resistant to ampicillin and sensitive to tetracycline are likely to contain a mutated target gene

Vectors with mutations in both antibiotic resistance genes have higher chance of also carrying a mutated target gene


PCR-Amplified Oligonucleotide-Directed Mutagenesis

See Fig. 8.4

Perform two separate PCR reactions with two sets of primers

Each primer set introduces the desired nucleotide change but produces linear PCR products with different ends

Denaturation, mixing aand ligation of the PCR products produces mutated circular DNA that can be introduced into E. coli by transformation


Random Mutagenesis With Degenerate Oligonucleotide Primers

See Fig. 8.5

Mutations are random and not targeted to one specific nucleotide

Use if you don't know what amino acid needs to be changed to alter your protein's properties

Random changes in the nucleotide sequence of the primer are introduced during chemical synthesis of a pool of degenerate oligonucleotides

Must express mutant genes and screen gene products to find the improved version of the protein


Random Mutagenesis With Base Analogs

See Fig. 8.7

Two restriction enzymes, ExonucleaseIII and DNA polymerase are used to produce DNA with a nucleotide containing a base analog randomly incorporated into the target DNA

Ex. N4-hydroxy cytosine is an analog of cytosine

Presence in DNA causes an A-T basepair to G-C basepair transition mutation when the DNA is replicated by the host

Ex.

---AAA--- (Lys) to ---GAA--- (Glu)

---TTT--- ...............---CTT---


Random Mutagenesis via Error-Prone PCR

Fig. 8.8

DNA polymerase form Thermus aquaticus sometimes incorporates the wrong nucleotide during synthesis of a strand of DNA

The enzyme cannot correct mistakes which then become mutations

Error rate ~1/10,000 base pairs

Error rate can be increased by altering PCR reaction conditions

Ex. Addition of Mn2+ and unequal conc. of dNTPs

DNA from amplified genes is cloned to create a library of mutant genes

Gene products from expression of mutant genes are screened for improved properties


DNA Shuffling

Fig. 8.10

The sequences of families of related genes are shuffled to create hybrid genes which may encode gene products with improved properties

Restriction enzyme sites common to all of the wild type genes are cut to produce fragments that are combined and ligated to produce hydrid genes

Ex. a-interferon genes (We will cover this example in Ch. 10)


Industrial Enzymes

See Table 8.1

Most enzymes are unsuitable for industrial use because of harsh conditions that denature most proteins

High temperature
High or low pH
Presence of organic solvents or other chemicals

About 20 enzymes are used in 90% of all industrial applications


Engineering Proteins for Industrial Applications

1. Increased protein stability

Thermal stability

-Add intramolecular covalent (disulfide) bonds by introducing Cys residues

Prevents protein unfolding at elevated temperature

 

-Eliminate Asn and Gln which lose their amino group (deamidate) at high temp.

 

Resistance to proteolysis

-Change N-terminal and PEST amino acids that are targets for proteases (Increasing temperature stability may also increases resistance to proteases)

 

2. Preventing formation of insolube aggregates (inclusion bodies)

Change Cys involved in intermolecular disulfide bonds to a different amino acid

 

3. Altering enzyme activity

Increase the rate of the reaction

Increase affinity for substrate

Change specificity for substrate

 

Difficult, usually requires information that isn't readily available

i. Detailed knowledge of the 3-D structure (solved by X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry)

ii. Knowledge of the reaction mechanism and amino acids involved in catalyzing the reaction


Intramolecular Disulfide Bonds: Effect on Thermostability of Lysozyme

See Table 8.2

Cys introduced by oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis

Amino acids targeted for change:

Close to each other in folded protein

Not in or near active site


High Temperature Deamidation

Deamidation. At high temps. Asn and Gln in proteins lose their amino groups, producing Asp and Glu, respectively

This change is from a polar uncharged R group to a negatively charged R group which may disrupt:

3-Dimensional conformation

Enzyme active site geometry or binding to cofactors

Protein-protein interaction

The thermal stability of triose phosphate isomerase was increased using directed mutagenesis to change two Asn residues to Thr and Ile which are not susceptable to deamidation.

See Table 8.3


Eliminating the Requirement for a Metal Cofactor

See Fig. 8.17 and Table 8.5

Subtilisin

Protease added to laundry detergent

Requires Ca++ for stability, but detergents have chelators that bind metals

 

To increase stability in your washing machine:

1. Ca++binding domain was deleted

2. Random mutagenesis was used to make changes in 4 regions of the protein

 

Clones were screened for expression of a thermostable enzyme

Seven separate mutations increased stability

All 7 were combined in a single gene

Enzyme was 10 x more stable than native (wild type) enzyme in the absence of Ca++ and 1.5 x as stable in its presence


Lowering Degradation by Proteases

Streptokinase

Produced by Streptococcus

Protease that dissolves blood clots, used to treat heart attack victims

Quickly degraded in blood by plasmin, also a protease

Treatment involves infusion over long time period to dissolve clot

Plasmin cleaves peptide bond after Lys or Arg

Streptokinase Lys 59 and 386 changed to Gln by site directed mutagenesis

Double mutant was 21 x more resistant to proteolysis by plasmin

Could be administered sooner after heart attack by single injection in the field rather than as infusion after transport of patient to hospital

 

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Last updated: October 10, 2005 /jdh

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