ABSTRACT
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) family is necessary to protect cells from the toxicity of reactive oxygen species produced during normal metabolism. Among SODs, manganese-containing superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD, SOD2) is the most important one. The DNA fragment containing the full nucleotide of full-length human SOD2 was synthesized and inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1 with tag GST. DNA construct was then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and expression was induced with IPTG at 25 ℃. The recombinant fusion protein GST-SOD2 (46 kDa) was purified from the bacterial lysate by GST resin column affinity chromatography. GST tag was cleaved with thrombin, and a crude SOD2 recombinant protein (25 kDa) was obtained and further purified by heparin affinity chromatography. Activities of the two SOD2 proteins were 1 788 and 2 000 U/mg, respectively. Both SOD2 proteins were stable under physiological condition and cell-penetrating (P<0.05). Our findings open the possibility to study the structure and effects of two full-length recombinant SOD2 proteins.
ABSTRACT
The fusion of cell permeable peptide TAT and bifunctional antioxidant enzymes, GST (Glutathione sulfur transferase)-TAT-SOD1 (Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase), is an intracellular superoxide scavenger. Compared with SOD1-TAT, GST-TAT-SOD1 has better protective effect on oxidative damage but less transduction efficiency. A novel cell permeable bifunctional antioxidant enzymes with the fusion of GST, SOD1 and polyarginine R9 was constructed for higher transduction efficiency. The full nucleotide sequence of SOD1-R9 was synthesized and inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1 with the GST tag. After the successful construction of the prokaryotic expression vectors of GST-SOD1-R9, the recombinant vector was then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and the GST-SOD1-R9 fusion protein was produced with the induction of IPTG. The soluble expression of GST-SOD1-R9 fusion protein was combining with the induction temperature and time. The best soluble expression was obtained with the induction temperature of 25 ℃ and the induction time of 11 h. The fusion protein was purified through the combination of 80% ammonium sulfate precipitation and affinity chromatography using glutathione agarose, and verified by SDS-PAGE and special enzymatic activity. The thermal and pH stability of GST-SOD1-R9 fusion protein were analyzed and the SOD and GST activity of fusion protein were proved to be well maintained under physiological conditions. Finally, the transduction efficiency of GST-SOD1-R9 fusion protein was proved to be better than GST-TAT-SOD1 fusion protein (P<0.05). These works establish a foundation for further study of the protective effect of GST-SOD1-R9 fusion protein against oxidative damage.