Biomedical subjects

Motoo Suzuki

Publications and source records attributed to Motoo Suzuki.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Bacterial bioreactors for high yield production of recombinant protein.

We developed a new bacterial expression system that utilizes a combination of attributes (low temperature, induction of an mRNA-specific endoribonuclease causing host cell growth arrest, and culture condensation) to facilitate stable, high level protein expression, almost 30% of total cellular protein, without background protein synthesis. With the use of an optimized vector, exponentially growing cultures could be condensed 40-fold without affecting protein yields, which lowered sample labeling costs to a few percent of the cost of a typical labeling experiment. Because the host cells were completely growth-arrested, toxic amino acids such as selenomethionine and fluorophenylalanine were efficiently incorporated into recombinant proteins in the absence of cytotoxicity. Therefore, this expression system using Escherichia coli as a bioreactor is especially well suited to structural genomics, large-scale protein expressions, and the production of cytotoxic proteins.

Bioreactors↗

PubMed2006

Finding one of a kind: advances in single-protein production.

An ultimate goal for any protein production system is to express only the protein of interest without producing other cellular proteins. To date, there are only two established methods that will allow the successful expression of only the protein of interest: the cell-free in vitro protein synthesis system and the in vivo single-protein production (SPP) system. Although single-protein production can be achieved in cell-free systems, it is not easy to completely suppress the production of cellular proteins during the production of a protein of interest in a living cell. However, the finding of a unique sequence-specific mRNA interferase in Escherichia coli led to the development of the SPP system by converting living cells into a bioreactor that produces only a single protein of interest without producing any cellular proteins. This technology not only provides a new high expression system for proteins, but also offers a novel avenue for protein structural studies.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Single protein production in living cells facilitated by an mRNA interferase.

We designed a single-protein production (SPP) system in living E. coli cells that exploits the unique properties of MazF, a bacterial toxin that is an ssRNA- and ACA-specific endoribonuclease. In effect, MazF functions as an "mRNA interferase," because it efficiently and selectively degrades all cellular mRNAs in vivo, resulting in a precipitous drop in total protein synthesis. Concomitant expression of MazF and a target gene engineered to encode an ACA-less mRNA results in sustained and high-level (up to 90%) target expression in the virtual absence of background cellular protein synthesis. Remarkably, target synthesis continues for at least 4 days, indicating that cells retain transcriptional and translational competence despite their growth arrest. SPP technology works well for E. coli (soluble and membrane), yeast, and human proteins. This expression system enables unparalleled signal to noise ratios that should dramatically simplify structural and functional studies of previously intractable but biologically important proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2004

Interference of mRNA function by sequence-specific endoribonuclease PemK.

In Escherichia coli, programmed cell death is mediated through the system called "addiction module," which consists of a pair of genes encoding a stable toxin and a labile antitoxin. The pemI-pemK system is an addiction module present on plasmid R100. It helps to maintain the plasmid by post-segregational killing in E. coli population. Here we demonstrate that purified PemK, the toxin encoded by the pemI-pemK addiction module, inhibits protein synthesis in an E. coli cell-free system, whereas the addition of PemI, the antitoxin against PemK, resumes the protein synthesis. Further studies reveal that PemK is a sequence-specific endoribonuclease that cleaves mRNAs to inhibit protein synthesis, whereas PemI blocks the endoribonuclease activity of PemK. PemK cleaves only single-stranded RNA preferentially at the 5' or 3' side of the A residue in the "UAH" sequences (where H is C, A, or U). Upon induction, PemK cleaves cellular mRNAs to effectively block protein synthesis in E. coli. The pemK homologue genes have been identified on the genomes of a wide range of bacteria. We propose that PemK and its homologues form a novel endoribonuclease family that interferes with mRNA function by cleaving cellular mRNAs in a sequence-specific manner.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Envelope disorder of Escherichia coli cells lacking phosphatidylglycerol.

Phosphatidylglycerol, the most abundant acidic phospholipid in Escherichia coli, is considered to play specific roles in various cellular processes that are essential for cell viability. A null mutation of pgsA, which encodes phosphatidylglycerophosphate synthase, does indeed confer lethality. However, pgsA null mutants are viable if they lack the major outer membrane lipoprotein (Lpp) (lpp mutant) (S. Kikuchi, I. Shibuya, and K. Matsumoto, J. Bacteriol. 182:371-376, 2000). Here we show that Lpp expressed from a plasmid causes cell lysis in a pgsA lpp double mutant. The envelopes of cells harvested just before lysis could not be separated into outer and inner membrane fractions by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. In contrast, expression of a mutant Lpp (LppdeltaK) lacking the COOH-terminal lysine residue (required for covalent linking to peptidoglycan) did not cause lysis and allowed for the clear separation of the outer and inner membranes. We propose that in pgsA mutants LppdeltaK could not be modified by the addition of a diacylglyceryl moiety normally provided by phosphatidylglycerol and that this defect caused unmodified LppdeltaK to accumulate in the inner membrane. Although LppdeltaK accumulation did not lead to lysis, the accumulation of unmodified wild-type Lpp apparently led to the covalent linking to peptidoglycan, causing the inner membrane to be anomalously anchored to peptidoglycan and eventually leading to lysis. We suggest that this anomalous anchoring largely explains a major portion of the nonviable phenotypes of pgsA null mutants.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗