D the supernatant loaded onto a ProBond (Invitrogen) His-tag affinity column equilibrated in equilibration buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8, 500 mM NaCl). The column was washed with an excess of wash buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8, 1 M NaCl, 0.1 Triton X-100) followed by a wash with equilibration buffer to remove the Triton X-100. ThePurification of Recombinant Human GM-CSFResults rhGM-CSF Expression and PurificationThe rhGM-CSF protein was efficiently expressed using the pET40b(+) vector in E. coli (Fig. 1A). However, the overexpression resulted in the formation of inclusion bodies as the rhGM-CSF was only found in the insoluble pellet after cell-lysis and not in the soluble fraction (Fig. 1B). Lysis of the cells and removal of the supernantant is a first step in the purification of recombinant proteins as many of the endogenous E. coli proteins are either soluble or removed from the membrane cellular debris by the detergent used in the lysis buffer. If a means of mechanical disruption of the E.coli (i.e. sonicator or French Press) is not available, it is possible to proceed directly to the resuspension step. There will simply be more contaminating proteins in the dialysis tubing and more extensive washing of the purification column may be required. After centrifugation of the cell-lysate, the pelleted inclusion bodies were first solubilized in a buffer MNS containing 6 M GuHCl and 10 mM DTT and then slowly dialyzed Oltipraz site against buffers containing decreasing amounts of GuHCl, as well as L-arginine and the redox pair of oxidized and reduced glutathione. This process efficiently refolds the rhGM-CSF and any unfolded/ insoluble material is removed by a centrifugation step. The solubilized rhGM-CSF was subsequently purified using a nickelchelating resin via the 86His tag engineered on its C-terminus (Fig. 2). From a 1 L culture, approximately 7 mg of soluble and purified rhGM-CSF can be routinely purified.Figure 2. rhGM-CSF can be purified following refolding from inclusion bodies and His-tag affinity chromatography. Shown is the 15 reducing SDS PAGE analysis of purified rhGM-CSF following His-tag affinity chromatography and low salt dialysis. The molecular weight marker is PageRuler Prestained Protein Ladder from Fermentas Life Sciences and the gel is stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. 24272870 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049891.grhGM-CSF BioactivityTo confirm the bioactivity of the refolded, purified rhGM-CSF, a human leukemia cell, TF-1, that was dependent on GM-CSF for its survival and proliferation, was washed extensively and 1000 cells were placed into 96 wells with a titration 1407003 of refolded rhGMCSF in triplicate. Four days later the metabolic activity of the surviving TF-1 cells was assessed by a WST assay according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In parallel, a titration of a standard commercial preparation of rhGM-CSF obtained from Immuno-Mass Spectral AnalysisTo confirm the identity of the purified rhGM-CSF, LC-MS/ MS (FT-ICR) was performed on trypsin and protease V8-digested fragments. Trypsin cleaves C-terminal to arginine and lysine residues whereas protease V8 cleaves C-terminal to glutamic and aspartic acids. The mass spectral analysis confirmed the identity of GM-CSF with almost complete sequence coverage (Fig. 3).Figure 1. rhGM-CSF forms inclusion bodies when expressed in E. coli. (A) Shown is the 15 reducing SDS PAGE analysis of the expression of rhGM-CSF transformed into the BL21(DE3) E. coli strain. Upon addition of IPTG (+) the cells efficient.D the supernatant loaded onto a ProBond (Invitrogen) His-tag affinity column equilibrated in equilibration buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8, 500 mM NaCl). The column was washed with an excess of wash buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8, 1 M NaCl, 0.1 Triton X-100) followed by a wash with equilibration buffer to remove the Triton X-100. ThePurification of Recombinant Human GM-CSFResults rhGM-CSF Expression and PurificationThe rhGM-CSF protein was efficiently expressed using the pET40b(+) vector in E. coli (Fig. 1A). However, the overexpression resulted in the formation of inclusion bodies as the rhGM-CSF was only found in the insoluble pellet after cell-lysis and not in the soluble fraction (Fig. 1B). Lysis of the cells and removal of the supernantant is a first step in the purification of recombinant proteins as many of the endogenous E. coli proteins are either soluble or removed from the membrane cellular debris by the detergent used in the lysis buffer. If a means of mechanical disruption of the E.coli (i.e. sonicator or French Press) is not available, it is possible to proceed directly to the resuspension step. There will simply be more contaminating proteins in the dialysis tubing and more extensive washing of the purification column may be required. After centrifugation of the cell-lysate, the pelleted inclusion bodies were first solubilized in a buffer containing 6 M GuHCl and 10 mM DTT and then slowly dialyzed against buffers containing decreasing amounts of GuHCl, as well as L-arginine and the redox pair of oxidized and reduced glutathione. This process efficiently refolds the rhGM-CSF and any unfolded/ insoluble material is removed by a centrifugation step. The solubilized rhGM-CSF was subsequently purified using a nickelchelating resin via the 86His tag engineered on its C-terminus (Fig. 2). From a 1 L culture, approximately 7 mg of soluble and purified rhGM-CSF can be routinely purified.Figure 2. rhGM-CSF can be purified following refolding from inclusion bodies and His-tag affinity chromatography. Shown is the 15 reducing SDS PAGE analysis of purified rhGM-CSF following His-tag affinity chromatography and low salt dialysis. The molecular weight marker is PageRuler Prestained Protein Ladder from Fermentas Life Sciences and the gel is stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. 24272870 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049891.grhGM-CSF BioactivityTo confirm the bioactivity of the refolded, purified rhGM-CSF, a human leukemia cell, TF-1, that was dependent on GM-CSF for its survival and proliferation, was washed extensively and 1000 cells were placed into 96 wells with a titration 1407003 of refolded rhGMCSF in triplicate. Four days later the metabolic activity of the surviving TF-1 cells was assessed by a WST assay according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In parallel, a titration of a standard commercial preparation of rhGM-CSF obtained from Immuno-Mass Spectral AnalysisTo confirm the identity of the purified rhGM-CSF, LC-MS/ MS (FT-ICR) was performed on trypsin and protease V8-digested fragments. Trypsin cleaves C-terminal to arginine and lysine residues whereas protease V8 cleaves C-terminal to glutamic and aspartic acids. The mass spectral analysis confirmed the identity of GM-CSF with almost complete sequence coverage (Fig. 3).Figure 1. rhGM-CSF forms inclusion bodies when expressed in E. coli. (A) Shown is the 15 reducing SDS PAGE analysis of the expression of rhGM-CSF transformed into the BL21(DE3) E. coli strain. Upon addition of IPTG (+) the cells efficient.
