In bacteria, protein secretion is mainly orchestrated by the Sec Pathway via Signal Peptides (SP), which are located at the N-terminus of secreted proteins. The secretion efficiency is not determined by the sequence of the SP alone, but instead is the combined result of an SP with its specific target protein. This necessitates establishing efficient screening procedures to evaluate all possible SP/target protein combinations. We developed such an approach for our Signal Peptide Toolbox, which contains 74 Sec-dependent SPs. It combines combinatorial construction with highly reproducible, quantitative measurements. By applying this procedure, we demonstrate the secretion of three different proteins and succeeded in identifying the most potent SP-protein combination for each of them. This thoroughly evaluated measurement tool, in combination with our SP toolbox (fully available via the partsregistry) enables an organism-independent, straightforward approach to identifying the best combination of SP with any protein of interest.
Achievements
Evaluation Vector
Short description
Peptidosomes in combination with Bacillus subtilis offer a perfect platform for enhanced protein overproduction by the means of efficient protein secretion provided through B. subtilis and the easy purification due to the physical separation of bacteria and the end-product in the supernatant facilitated by the Peptidosomes. Naturally, B. subtilis is a strong secretion host and in order to take full advantage of this great potential it is necessary to evaluate all possible combinations of the B. subtilis’ secretion signal peptides and the proteins of interest. Therefore, we developed the Evaluation Vector (EV) which is a powerful genetic tool containing a multiple cloning site (MCS) specifically designed to easily exchange translational fusions composed of the desired protein and a secretion signal peptide.
Achievements
Secretion
Short description
In combing Bacillus subtilis powerful secretion capacity with Peptidosomes as a new platform for functional co-cultivation we aim to produce multi protein complexes. Various strains - each secreting distinct proteins of interest - can be cultivated in one reaction hub while being physically separated. In this part of EncaBcillus we study extracelluar protein interaction mediated by the SpyTag/SpyCatcher system. This set-up bears the potential for an effective production of customizable biomaterials or enzyme complexes.
Achievements
We were able to engineer B. subtilis to secret large quantities of mCherry constructs, c-terminally fused with a mini. SpyCatcher or SpyTag (Tags). In Figure 1 we assayed the fluorescence in the supernatant, that surpasses the wilde type by far. The typical red color of mCherry is even visible in the supernatant under day light conditions (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Endpoint measurement of the fluorescence from supernatants.
Expression of the multi copy mCherry constructs (purple) was induced with 1% Xylose and the supernatants were harvested after 16 h of incubation. Wild type supernatant is shown as a control (pink). Excitation wavelength was set to 585 nm and emission was recorded at 615 nm. The fluorecense was normalized over the optical density of the cell culture at 600 nm (OD600). Graph shows mean values and standard deviations of at least two biological and three technical replicates.
Figure 2: Supernatants of B. subtiliscultures.
Wild-type supernatant (left) and a mCherry-mini. SpyCatcher secreting strain (right). The expression of the multi-copy mCherry was induced with 1% Xylose and the supernatant was harvested after 16 h of incubation.
We demonstrated the functionality of our SpyTag/SpyCatcher system via SDS-PAGE (Figure 3). Upon 4 h of incubating the supernatants containing mCherry with either SpyTag or mini. SpyCatcher, we were able to detect the conjugated fusion protein. Thus, we provide evidence for the applicability of co-culturing approaches using Peptidosomes, to produce self conjugation protein complexes.
Figure 3: SDS gel with crude and purified supernatants. Expression of the multi copy mCherry constructs was induced with 1% Xylose and the supernatants were harvested after 16 h of incubation. The his-tagged proteins were purified with Ni-NTA agarose beads. Lane 1 was loaded with 3 l of NEB´s “Color Prestained Protein Standard Broad Range” ladder. Crude (c) and purified (p) supernatant of wild-type (WT) are shown as a control in lane 2 and 3. Lane 4 and 5 contain the supernatant of B. subtilis producing mCherry-mini. SpyCatcher fusion protein (36,6 kDa). Lane 4 and 5 contain the supernatant of B. subtilis producing mCherry-SpyTag fusion protein (31,9 kDa). The crude supernatants of the two mCherry producing strains were combined, incubated for 4 h, purified and loaded onto lane 8 and 9. The fusion product of the mCherry constructs is visable in the crude and purified supernatant.
Communication
Short description
By using Peptidosomes we introduce a new powerful platform for co-culturing. This technique physically separates bacterial populations without limiting their ability to communicate with each other via signalling molecules. This part of EncaBcillus is focused on proofing the concept of communication between encapsulated bacteria by making use of the native regulatory system for competence development in Bacillus subtilis which is based on quorum sensing mediated by the ComX pheromone.
Achievements
Figure 2: Growth of the ReSt (A) and ComX-dependent promoter activity of PsrfA (B) in transformation medium (MNGE). In wild type (WT) the promoter is tenfold increased compared to the comX-deficient strain during transition phase.
Figure 3: Co-culture of sender strain (SeSt) and receiver strain (ReSt) using ThinCert™ cell culture inserts. The increasing luminescence of the ReSt (inside of the well) co-cultured with the SeSt (found in the insert) induced with xylose (SeSt + ReSt) was documented by a chemoluminescence imaging system. Cultures containing only SeSt or ReSt served as negative controls. The latter exhibites a weak increase of luminescence because of the promoter’s basal activity (t5).