Reverse genetics (RG) systems have been instrumental for determining the molecular aspects of viral replication, pathogenesis, and for the development of therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate that genes encoding the influenza surface antigens hemagglutinin and neuraminidase have varying stability when cloned into a common RG plasmid and transformed into Escherichia coli. Using GFP as a reporter, we demonstrate that E. coli expresses the target genes in the RG plasmid at low levels. Incorporating lac operators or a transcriptional terminator into the plasmid reduced expression and stabilized the viral genes to varying degrees. Sandwiching the viral gene between two lac operators provided the largest contribution to stability and we confirmed the stabilization is Lac repressor-dependent and crucial for subsequent plasmid propagations in E. coli. Viruses rescued from the lac operator-stabilized plasmid displayed similar kinetics and titers to the original plasmid in two different viral backbones. Together, these results indicate that silencing transcription from the plasmid in E. coli helps to maintain the correct influenza gene sequence and that the lac operator addition does not impair virus production. It is envisaged that sandwiching DNA segments between lac operators can be used for reducing DNA segment instability in any plasmid that is propagated in E. coli which express the Lac repressor. 

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the most widely used bacterium for the production of recombinant proteins. However, the production of proteins in its cytoplasmic membrane or periplasm is challenging. Therefore, the aim of this doctoral thesis was to develop setups for enhancing the production of membrane and secretory proteins in E. coli. Production of membrane and secretory proteins in E. coli requires precise tuning of protein production rates in order to avoid the deleterious saturation of the secretion apparatus. Here, we engineered two tunable protein production setups. We engineered the pReX expression vector, which is a simplified version of the setup used for creating the T7 RNA polymerase-based Lemo21(DE3) strain, and a setup based on the use of the rhamnose promoter in a Δrha strain background. Both setups can be used to enhance membrane and secretory protein production yields. Based on our current knowledge, it is challenging to predict which signal peptide should be utilized to produce a recombinant protein in the periplasm. Using the tunable rhamnose promoter-based setup, we developed a combined screen involving different signal peptides and varying production rates. This enables the identification of an optimal signal peptide and production rate combination for the periplasmic production of a recombinant protein. Next, proteome analysis was used to examine cells producing a recombinant protein in the periplasm, when using, an optimal signal peptide ­and protein production rate combination. Interestingly, the proteome analysis showed that cells had increased their protein translocation capacity, i.e., they had adapted. Finally, we investigated the co-translational folding of the periplasmic, disulfide bond-containing, E. coli protein alkaline phosphatase. Using Force Profile Analysis, it was shown that co-translationally translocated PhoA folds via at least two disulfide-stabilized folding intermediates. 

This thesis highlights the importance of fine-tuning membrane and secretory protein production rates to enhance their production yields, selecting the most optimal signal peptide for the periplasmic production of a protein, using combinatorial protein production screening approaches, studying the effects of recombinant protein production on the cell and developing experimental systems to monitor periplasmic protein folding.

Main reasons to produce recombinant proteins in the periplasm of E. coli rather than in its cytoplasm are to -i- enable disulfide bond formation, -ii- facilitate protein isolation, -iii- control the nature of the N-terminus of the mature protein, and -iv- minimize exposure to cytoplasmic proteases. However, hampered protein targeting, translocation and folding as well as protein instability can all negatively affect periplasmic protein production yields. Strategies to enhance periplasmic protein production yields have focused on harmonizing secretory recombinant protein production rates with the capacity of the secretory apparatus by transcriptional and translational tuning, signal peptide selection and engineering, increasing the targeting, translocation and periplasmic folding capacity of the production host, preventing proteolysis, and, finally, the natural and engineered adaptation of the production host to periplasmic protein production. Here, we discuss these strategies using notable examples as a thread.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is an obligate human pathogen and the causative agent of tuberculosis(1-3). Although Mtb can synthesize vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) de novo, uptake of cobalamin has been linked to pathogenesis of tuberculosis(2). Mtb does not encode any characterized cobalamin transporter(4-6); however, the gene rv1819c was found to be essential for uptake of cobalamin(1). This result is difficult to reconcile with the original annotation of Rv1819c as a protein implicated in the transport of antimicrobial peptides such as bleomycin(7). In addition, uptake of cobalamin seems inconsistent with the amino acid sequence, which suggests that Rv1819c has a bacterial ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-exporter fold(1). Here, we present structures of Rv1819c, which reveal that the protein indeed contains the ABC-exporter fold, as well as a large water-filled cavity of about 7,700 angstrom(3), which enables the protein to transport the unrelated hydrophilic compounds bleomycin and cobalamin. On the basis of these structures, we propose that Rv1819c is a multi-solute transporter for hydrophilic molecules, analogous to the multidrug exporters of the ABC transporter family, which pump out structurally diverse hydrophobic compounds from cells(8-11). Analysis of cryo-electron microscopy structures of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis ABC transporter Rv1819c suggests that it is a multi-solute transporter for hydrophilic molecules.

Cotranslational protein folding studies using Force Profile Analysis, a method where the SecM translational arrest peptide is used to detect folding-induced forces acting on the nascent polypeptide, have so far been limited mainly to small domains of cytosolic proteins that fold in close proximity to the translating ribosome. In this study, we investigate the cotranslational folding of the periplasmic, disulfide bond-containing Escherichia coli protein alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) in a wild-type strain background and a strain background devoid of the periplasmic thiol: disulfide interchange protein DsbA. We find that folding-induced forces can be transmitted via the nascent chain from the periplasm to the polypeptide transferase center in the ribosome, a distance of similar to 160 angstrom, and that PhoA appears to fold cotranslationally via at least two disulfide-stabilized folding intermediates. Thus, Force Profile Analysis can be used to study cotranslational folding of proteins in an extra-cytosolic compartment, like the periplasm.

Recently, we engineered a tunable rhamnose promoter-based setup for the production of recombinant proteins in E. coli. This setup enabled us to show that being able to precisely set the production rate of a secretory recombinant protein is critical to enhance protein production yields in the periplasm. It is assumed that precisely setting the production rate of a secretory recombinant protein is required to harmonize its production rate with the protein translocation capacity of the cell. Here, using proteome analysis we show that enhancing periplasmic production of human Growth Hormone (hGH) using the tunable rhamnose promoter-based setup is accompanied by increased accumulation levels of at least three key players in protein translocation; the peripheral motor of the Sec-translocon (SecA), leader peptidase (LepB), and the cytoplasmic membrane protein integrase/chaperone (YidC). Thus, enhancing periplasmic hGH production leads to increased Sec-translocon capacity, increased capacity to cleave signal peptides from secretory proteins and an increased capacity of an alternative membrane protein biogenesis pathway, which frees up Sec-translocon capacity for protein secretion. When cells with enhanced periplasmic hGH production yields were harvested and subsequently cultured in the absence of inducer, SecA, LepB, and YidC levels went down again. This indicates that when using the tunable rhamnose-promoter system to enhance the production of a protein in the periplasm, E. coli can adapt its protein translocation machinery for enhanced recombinant protein production in the periplasm.

Proteins that contain disulfide bonds mainly mature in the oxidative environment of the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum or the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria. In E. coli, disulfide bond containing recombinant proteins are often targeted to the periplasm by an N -terminal signal peptide that is removed once it passes through the Sectranslocon in the cytoplasmic membrane. Despite their conserved targeting function, signal peptides can impact recombinant protein production yields in the periplasm, as can the production rate. Here, we present a combined screen involving different signal peptides and varying production rates that enabled the identification of more optimal conditions for periplasmic production of recombinant proteins with disulfide bonds. The data was generated from two targets, a single chain antibody fragment (BL1) and human growth hormone (hGH), with four different signal peptides and a titratable rhamnose promoter-based system that enables the tuning of protein production rates. Across the screen conditions, the yields for both targets significantly varied, and the optimal signal peptide and rhamnose concentration differed for each protein. Under the optimal conditions, the periplasmic BL1 and hGH were properly folded and active. Our study underpins the importance of combinatorial screening approaches for addressing the requirements associated with the production of a recombinant protein in the periplasm.

The bacterium Escherichia coli has been widely used for the production of both pro- and eukaryotic membrane proteins. Usually, a set of standard strains as well as different culture setups and induction regimes are screened for to enhance production yields. However, on a limited scale, E. coli strains have been isolated for recombinant helical bundle membrane protein production using both selection- and engineering-based approaches. Here, we discuss how such approaches have been used so far to shape E. coli for the production of these recombinant membrane proteins and may be used in the future to further enhance production yields.

Tail-anchored membrane proteins (TAMPs) are relatively simple membrane proteins characterized by a single transmembrane domain (TMD) at their C-terminus. Consequently, the hydrophobic TMD, which acts as a subcellular targeting signal, emerges from the ribosome only after termination of translation precluding canonical co-translational targeting and membrane insertion. In contrast to the well-studied eukaryotic TAMPs, surprisingly little is known about the cellular components that facilitate the biogenesis of bacterial TAMPs. In this study, we identify DjIC and Flk as bona fide Escherichia co/iTAMPs and show that their TMDs are necessary and sufficient for authentic membrane targeting of the fluorescent reporter mNeonGreen. Using strains conditional for the expression of known E. coli membrane targeting and insertion factors, we demonstrate that the signal recognition particle (SRP), its receptor FtsY, the chaperone DnaK and insertase YidC are each required for efficient membrane localization of both TAMPs. A close association between the TMD of DjIC and Flk with both the Ffh subunit of SRP and YidC was confirmed by site-directed in vivo photo-crosslinking. In addition, our data suggest that the hydrophobicity of the TMD correlates with the dependency on SRP for efficient targeting.

Membrane and secretory protein production in Escherichia coli requires precisely controlled production rates to avoid the deleterious saturation of their biogenesis pathways. On the basis of this requirement, the E. coli L-rhamnose PBAD promoter (PrhaBAD) is often used for membrane and secretory protein production since PrhaBAD is thought to regulate protein production rates in an L-rhamnose concentration-dependent manner. By monitoring protein production in real-time in E. coli wild-type and an L-rhamnose catabolism deficient mutant, we demonstrate that the L-rhamnose concentration-dependent tunability of PrhaBAD-mediated protein production is actually due to L-rhamnose consumption rather than regulating production rates. Using this information, a RhaT-mediated L-rhamnose transport and L-rhamnose catabolism deficient double mutant was constructed. We show that this mutant enables the regulation of PrhaBAD-based protein production rates in an L-rhamnose concentration-dependent manner and that this is critical to optimize membrane and secretory protein production yields. The high precision of protein production rates provided by the PrhaBAD promoter in an L-rhamnose transport and catabolism deficient background could also benefit other applications in synthetic biology.