Journal Article
- Enhancement of the solubility of recombinant proteins by fusion with a short-disordered peptide
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Jun Ren , Suhee Hwang , Junhao Shen , Hyeongwoo Kim , Hyunjoo Kim , Jieun Kim , Soyoung Ahn , Min-gyun Kim , Seung Ho Lee , Dokyun Na
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J. Microbiol. 2022;60(9):960-967. Published online July 14, 2022
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-022-2122-z
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Abstract
- In protein biotechnology, large soluble fusion partners are
widely utilized for increased yield and solubility of recombinant
proteins. However, the production of additional large
fusion partners poses an additional burden to the host, leading
to a decreased protein yield. In this study, we identified
two highly disordered short peptides that were able to increase
the solubility of an artificially engineered aggregationprone
protein, GFP-GFIL4, from 0.6% to 61% (D3-DP00592)
and 46% (D4-DP01038) selected from DisProt database. For
further confirmation, the peptides were applied to two insoluble
E. coli proteins (YagA and YdiU). The peptides also
enhanced solubility from 52% to 90% (YagA) and from 27%
to 93% (YdiU). Their ability to solubilize recombinant proteins
was comparable with strong solubilizing tags, maltosebinding
protein (40 kDa) and TrxA (12 kDa), but much smaller
(< 7 kDa) in size. For practical application, the two peptides
were fused with a restriction enzyme, I-SceI, and they increased
I-SceI solubility from 24% up to 75%. The highly disordered
peptides did not affect the activity of I-SceI while I-SceI fused
with MBP or TrxA displayed no restriction activity. Despite
the small size, the highly disordered peptides were able to
solubilize recombinant proteins as efficiently as conventional
fusion tags and did not interfere with the function of recombinant
proteins. Consequently, the identified two highly disordered
peptides would have practical utility in protein biotechnology
and industry.
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Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by

- A review on computational models for predicting protein solubility
Teerapat Pimtawong, Jun Ren, Jingyu Lee, Hyang-Mi Lee, Dokyun Na
Journal of Microbiology.2025; 63(1): e:2408001. CrossRef - Synthetic intrinsically disordered protein fusion tags that enhance protein solubility
Nicholas C. Tang, Jonathan C. Su, Yulia Shmidov, Garrett Kelly, Sonal Deshpande, Parul Sirohi, Nikhil Peterson, Ashutosh Chilkoti
Nature Communications.2024;[Epub] CrossRef - Biosynthesis of Indigo Dyes and Their Application in Green Chemical and Visual Biosensing for Heavy Metals
Yan Guo, Shun-Yu Hu, Can Wu, Chao-Xian Gao, Chang-Ye Hui
ACS Omega.2024; 9(31): 33868. CrossRef - Functional small peptides for enhanced protein delivery, solubility, and secretion in microbial biotechnology
Hyang-Mi Lee, Thi Duc Thai, Wonseop Lim, Jun Ren, Dokyun Na
Journal of Biotechnology.2023; 375: 40. CrossRef - Directed Evolution of Soluble α-1,2-Fucosyltransferase Using Kanamycin Resistance Protein as a Phenotypic Reporter for Efficient Production of 2'-Fucosyllactose
Jonghyeok Shin, Seungjoo Kim, Wonbeom Park, Kyoung Chan Jin, Sun-Ki Kim, Dae-Hyuk Kweon
Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology.2022; 32(11): 1471. CrossRef - Effects of spray drying, freeze drying, and vacuum drying on physicochemical and nutritional properties of protein peptide powder from salted duck egg white
Tianyin Du, Jicheng Xu, Shengnan Zhu, Xinjun Yao, Jun Guo, Weiqiao Lv
Frontiers in Nutrition.2022;[Epub] CrossRef
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Evaluation of the Cell Growth of Mycobacteria Using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 as a Representative Species
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Jorge A. Gonzalez-y-Merchand , Ruben Zaragoza-Contreras , Rosalina Guadarrama-Medina , Addy C. Helguera-Repetto , Sandra Rivera-Gutierrez , Jorge F. Cerna-Cortes , Leopoldo Santos-Argumedo , Robert A. Cox
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J. Microbiol. 2012;50(3):419-425. Published online June 30, 2012
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-012-1556-0
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Abstract
- The study of the in vitro cell growth of mycobacteria still remains a fastidious, difficult, and time-consuming procedure. In addition, assessing mycobacterial growth in the laboratory is often complicated by cell aggregation and slow growth-rate. We now report that the use of a stainless steel spring in the culture led to an absence of large cell clumps, to a decrease of dead cells in the exponential phase and to growth of a more homogeneous population of large cells. We also report that flow cytometry is a rapid, simple and reliable approach to monitor mycobacterial cell growth and viability. Here, we monitored Mycobacterium smegmatis cellular growth by optical density, dry cell mass, and colony forming units; in addition, viability, cell size and granularity profiles were analyzed by flow cytometry, and cell morphology by electron microscopy. Cultures monitored by flow cytometry may lead to a better understanding of the physiology of mycobacteria. Moreover, this methodology may aid in characterizing the cell growth of other fastidious species of microorganisms.