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Michael J Taussig

Publications and source records attributed to Michael J Taussig.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

ProteomeBinders: planning a European resource of affinity reagents for analysis of the human proteome.

ProteomeBinders is a new European consortium aiming to establish a comprehensive resource of well-characterized affinity reagents, including but not limited to antibodies, for analysis of the human proteome. Given the huge diversity of the proteome, the scale of the project is potentially immense but nevertheless feasible in the context of a pan-European or even worldwide coordination.

Affinity Labels↗
PubMed2006

Effects of mutation at the D-JH junction on affinity, specificity, and idiotypy of anti-progesterone antibody DB3.

The crystal structures of the Fab' fragment of the anti-progesterone monoclonal antibody DB3 and its complexes with steroid haptens have shown that the D-JH junctional residue TrpH100 is a key contributor to binding site interactions with ligands. The indole group of TrpH100 also undergoes a significant conformational change between the bound and unliganded states, effectively opening and closing the combining site pocket. In order to explore the effect of substitutions at this position on steroid recognition, we have carried out mutagenesis on a construct encoding a three-domain single-chain fragment (VH/K) of DB3 expressed in Escherichia coli. TrpH100 was replaced by 13 different amino acids or deleted, and the functional and antigenic properties of the mutated fragments were analyzed. Most substitutions, including small, hydrophobic, hydrophilic, neutral, and negatively charged side chains, were reduced or abolished binding to free progesterone, although binding to progesterone-BSA was partially retained. The reduction in antigen binding was paralleled by alteration of the idiotype associated with the DB3 combining site. In contrast, the replacement of TrpH100 by Arg produced a mutant that retained wild-type antibody affinity and idiotype, but with altered specificity. Significant changes in this mutant included increased relative affinities of 10(4)-fold for progesterone-3-carboxymethyloxime and 10-fold for aetiocholanolone. Our results demonstrate an essential role for the junctional residue H100 in determining steroid-binding specificity and combining site idiotype and show that these properties can be changed by a single amino acid substitution at this position.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Double-hexahistidine tag with high-affinity binding for protein immobilization, purification, and detection on ni-nitrilotriacetic acid surfaces.

There is a particular need in protein analysis and purification for specific, functional, and generic methods of protein immobilization on solid supports. Here we describe a double-hexahistidine (His6) tag sequence, comprising two hexahistidines separated by an 11-amino acid spacer, which shows at least 1 order of magnitude stronger binding to Ni-NTA-modified surfaces than a conventional single-His6 tag or two single-His6 tags at N- and C-termini. Using, as a model, tagged versions of green fluorescent protein (GFP), stable and tight binding of the double-His6 tag/Ni-NTA interaction was demonstrated by competitive elution from Ni-NTA agarose beads, surface plasmon resonance on a Ni-NTA chip, and ELISA in Ni-NTA microwell plates. Protein purification by Ni-NTA chromatography was improved by a 6-8-fold increase in imidazole concentration required for elution, while the dissociation rate of double-His6 GFP from Ni-NTA chips in SPR (BIAcore) was 10 times slower than for single-His6-tagged proteins. ELISA assays and protein microarrays constructed with double-His6 GFP demonstrated greater detection sensitivity with anti-His antibodies and Ni-NTA conjugates. Moreover, the double-His6 tag could serve simultaneously both for protein immobilization and for detection on surfaces. The double-His6 peptide has the potential to be a universal tag for protein immobilization and detection on arrays and single-step purification of proteins from crude mixtures.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2006

Improved affinity coupling for antibody microarrays: engineering of double-(His)6-tagged single framework recombinant antibody fragments.

Antibody-based microarray is a novel technology with great promise in biomedicine that will provide unique means to perform global proteome analysis. In the process of designing the high-density antibody microarrays required, several critical key issues have been identified that remain to be resolved. In particular, there is a great need for specific and selective approaches enabling non-purified probes to be directly purified, orientated and coupled in a generic one-step procedure directly on the chip. In this study, we report on the successful design of affinity-tagged human recombinant single-chain fragment variable antibody fragments for improved affinity coupling in array applications. By replacing the standard single-histidine (His)(6)-tag with a consecutive double-(His)(6)-tag, the binding to Ni(2+)-nitrilotriacetic acid-coated substrates was significantly improved. Surface plasmon resonance analysis showed a significantly tighter binding with at least a threefold slower dissociation. The improved binding characteristics thus enabled non-purified probes even in the format of crude expression supernatants to be directly applied thereby eliminating the need for any time-consuming pre-purification step(s) prior to the immobilization. While the double-(His)(6)-tag probes were found to be expressed equally well as compared to the single-(His)(6)-tag probes, they displayed better long-term functional on-chip stability. Taken together, the results demonstrate the generic potential of double-(His)(6)-tag recombinant antibodies for the facile fabrication of high-density antibody microarrays.

Antibodies↗
PubMed2006

Enhanced cell-free protein expression by fusion with immunoglobulin Ckappa domain.

While cell-free systems are increasingly used for protein expression in structural and functional studies, several proteins are difficult to express or expressed only at low levels in cell-free lysates. Here, we report that fusion of the human immunoglobulin kappa light chain constant domain (Ckappa) at the C terminus of four representative proteins dramatically improved their production in the Escherichia coli S30 system, suggesting that enhancement of cell-free protein expression by Ckappa fusion will be widely applicable.

Cell-Free System↗
PubMed2005

Ribosome display of antibodies: expression, specificity and recovery in a eukaryotic system.

In ribosome display, proteins are linked to their encoding genetic material as protein-ribosome-mRNA complexes. The technology has been applied to the isolation of antibodies and other proteins from large PCR-derived libraries. Here we demonstrate the specificity of eukaryotic ribosome complexes and investigate recovery and display procedures using a single chain version of the anti-progesterone monoclonal antibody DB3. Complexes are formed by deletion of the 3' stop codon in a coupled rabbit reticulocyte system. Using inhibition with different steroid probes, we show that the fine specificity of the combining site expressed as a nascent protein is closely similar to the native monoclonal, indicating correct folding and function while bound to the ribosome. We have demonstrated that the 3' end of the mRNA is blocked by the stalled ribosome and unavailable to primers. Moreover, we show that an in situ RT-PCR recovery procedure, carried out on intact complexes, is more efficient than ribosome disruption and isolation of mRNA followed by RT-PCR. We also explore the Mg(2+) and DTT concentrations and time required for efficient production of complexes. Our findings confirm the effectiveness of the eukaryotic ribosome display system and define conditions for efficient selection of single chain antibodies.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

DiscernArray technology: a cell-free method for the generation of protein arrays from PCR DNA.

Protein array technology offers a powerful tool to bridge genomics and proteomics. Currently, the bottleneck in the generation of protein arrays is the comprehensive production of functional proteins. We have developed a rapid cell-free method, DiscernArray, which creates functional protein arrays directly from PCR DNA by in vitro synthesis of individual tagged proteins on tag-binding surfaces, such that the tagged proteins are immobilized on a surface as they are synthesised. DiscernArray is particularly useful for arraying proteins and domains which cannot be functionally produced in heterologous expression systems or for which the cloned DNA is not available.

Antibody Specificity↗
PubMed2002

Scaffolds for protein crystallisation.

In the absence of a method to ensure that crystals can be obtained for any given protein, the possibility of developing scaffolds for protein crystallisation becomes attractive. Among several approaches that could yield scaffolds, two are particularly promising: the first is based on immunoglobulin Fab fragments and immunoglobulin binding proteins while the second is based on fusion proteins. In the Fab based scaffold, the protein of interest is the antigen recognised by the antibody. In the second case, it is a protein fused to one of the scaffold components. The operational difference between the two methods is the existence of a flexible covalent tether compared to a highly specific interaction. The relative merits and disadvantages of each approach are discussed here. We also describe a lattice obtained through a combinatorial approach which appears to have the required properties to be considered a scaffold. The system makes use of an Fab derived from a rheumatoid factor and an Fc-fusion protein. The Fc-fusion system is ideal for enhanced expression of glycoproteins in mammalian cells and provides a useful tag for their purification. The molecular replacement shows a mode of binding for this rheumatoid factor that is not competitive with bacterial Fc-binding proteins. Hence it may be possible to generalize the method to include bacterial expression of fusion proteins with either protein A or protein G as the fusion partner.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Evidence for plasticity and structural mimicry at the immunoglobulin light chain-protein L interface.

The multidomain bacterial surface protein L (PpL) is a virulence factor expressed by only 10% of Peptostreptococcus magnus strains, and its expression is correlated with bacterial vaginosis. The molecular basis for its ability to recognize 60% of mammalian immunoglobulin light chain variable regions (V(L)) has been described recently by x-ray crystallography, which suggested the presence of two V(L) binding sites on each protein L domain (Graille, M., Stura, E. A., Housden, N. G., Beckingham, J. A., Bottomley, S. P., Beale, D., Taussig, M. J., Sutton, B. J., Gore, M. G., and Charbonnier, J. (2001) Structure 9, 679-687). Here, we report the crystal structure at 2.1 A resolution of a protein L mutant complexed to an Fab' fragment with only 50% of the V(L) residues interacting with PpL site 1 conserved. Comparison of the site 1 interface from both structures shows how protein L is able to accommodate these sequence differences and therefore bind to a large repertoire of Ig. The x-ray structure and NMR results confirm the existence of two V(L) binding sites on a single protein L domain. These sites exhibit a remarkable structural mimicry of growth factors binding to their receptors. This could explain the protein L superantigenic activity on human B lymphocytes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Ribosome display: cell-free protein display technology.

Ribosome display is a cell-free system for the in vitro selection of proteins and peptides from large libraries. It uses the principle of coupling individual nascent proteins (phenotypes) to their corresponding mRNA (genotypes), through the formation of stable protein-ribosome-mRNA (PRM) complexes. This permits the simultaneous isolation of a functional nascent protein, through affinity for a ligand, together with the encoding mRNA, which is then converted and amplified as DNA for further manipulation, including repeated cycles or protein expression. Ribosome display has a number of advantages over cell-based systems such as phage display; in particular, it can display very large libraries without the restriction of bacterial transformation. It is also suitable for generating toxic, proteolytically sensitive and unstable proteins, and allows the incorporation of modified amino acids at defined positions. In combination with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods, mutations can be introduced efficiently into the selected DNA pool in subsequent cycles, leading to continuous DNA diversification and protein selection (in vitro protein evolution). Both prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosome display systems have been developed and each has its own distinctive features. In this paper, ribosome display systems and their application in selection and evolution of proteins are reviewed.

Cell-Free System↗