1. Experimental mapping of soluble protein domains using a hierarchical approach.
- Author
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Pedelacq JD, Nguyen HB, Cabantous S, Mark BL, Listwan P, Bell C, Friedland N, Lockard M, Faille A, Mourey L, Terwilliger TC, and Waldo GS
- Subjects
- Class Ia Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase chemistry, Class Ia Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase genetics, Crystallography, X-Ray, Green Fluorescent Proteins analysis, Green Fluorescent Proteins genetics, Mycobacterium tuberculosis enzymology, Polyketide Synthases chemistry, Polyketide Synthases genetics, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Solubility, Tetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase genetics, Gene Library, Protein Structure, Tertiary
- Abstract
Exploring the function and 3D space of large multidomain protein targets often requires sophisticated experimentation to obtain the targets in a form suitable for structure determination. Screening methods capable of selecting well-expressed, soluble fragments from DNA libraries exist, but require the use of automation to maximize chances of picking a few good candidates. Here, we describe the use of an insertion dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) vector to select in-frame fragments and a split-GFP assay technology to filter-out constructs that express insoluble protein fragments. With the incorporation of an IPCR step to create high density, focused sublibraries of fragments, this cost-effective method can be performed manually with no a priori knowledge of domain boundaries while permitting single amino acid resolution boundary mapping. We used it on the well-characterized p85α subunit of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of our methodology. We then successfully tested it onto the polyketide synthase PpsC from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a potential drug target involved in the biosynthesis of complex lipids in the cell envelope. X-ray quality crystals from the acyl-transferase (AT), dehydratase (DH) and enoyl-reductase (ER) domains have been obtained.
- Published
- 2011
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