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Proteins are the workhorses of the cell. With different combinations of the 20 common amino acids and some modifications of these amino acids, proteins have evolved with a staggering array of new functions and capabilities due to Protein Engineering techniques. The practical course presented was offered to undergraduate bioengineering and chemical students at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (Portugal) and consists of sequential laboratory sessions to learn the basic skills related to the expression and purification of recombinant proteins in bacterial hosts. These experiments were successfully applied by students as all working groups were able to isolate a model recombinant protein (the enhanced green fluorescent protein, eGFP) from a cell lysate containing a mixture of proteins and other biomolecules produced by an Escherichia coli strain and evaluate the performance of the extraction and purification procedures they learned.
Group | R2 * | p-Value ** | µmax (min−1) | td (min) |
---|---|---|---|---|
G1 | 0.9430 | 0.0289 | 0.00634 | 109.4 |
G2 | 0.9270 | 0.0372 | 0.00660 | 105.0 |
G3 | 0.9401 | 0.0304 | 0.00673 | 103.0 |
G4 | 0.9349 | 0.0331 | 0.00631 | 109.8 |
Sample Identification | Session | Content |
---|---|---|
A | 1 | Cell culture in the exponential phase |
B | 1 | Grown cell culture |
C | 1 | Supernatant resulting from the centrifugation of the cell culture |
D | 1 | Cell pellet resuspended in Buffer I |
E | 2 | Cell lysate |
F | 2 | Cell debris resulting from the centrifugation of the cell lysate |
G | 2 | Supernatant resulting from the centrifugation of the cell lysate |
H | 3 | Flowthrough (unbound material) |
I | 3 | Wash |
J | 3 | Eluted target |
K | 3 | Eluted target (wash) |
L | 3 | Post-dialysis |
The ability to predict bioprocessing performance is crucial for the production of recombinant proteins of therapeutic and prophylactic importance, especially on an industrial scale [24]. In an attempt to approach a real-world scenario of large-scale protein production, students were asked to examine the efficiency of the unit operations involved in the extraction and purification of the recombinant protein under study. For this, a full mass balance analysis was performed taking into account the concentrations of total protein and eGFP determined by the BCA and fluorometry methods, respectively, and knowing the total volume collected for each sample of the extraction and purification steps. The mass of total protein and eGFP of each sample, as well as its degree of purity (i.e., the percentage of eGFP in total protein), are summarized in Table 3 for each working group. As expected, the purity of the sample G (before the chromatography) was low compared to the other samples, varying between 14% and 24%, except for Group 4. Ideally, from the chromatography process, three samples with low protein purity should be obtained—samples H, I, and K—since they correspond to the discharges of the washing steps of the chromatographic columns. In fact, for all working groups, samples H and K had the two lowest levels of eGFP. In the case of sample I, since it corresponded to the wash fraction (unbound proteins and other compounds), it was expected that the mass of the target protein and, consequently the purity, would be residual, which was not verified. This may have resulted from an underestimation of the amount of total protein by the BCA method and/or the loss of His-tagged protein during sample loading and wash. Sample J corresponds to the eluted eGFP, thus it is expected that, like sample L collected after dialysis, it has a high degree of purity. This was verified in two of the groups (G1 and G4), with percentages of purity above 71% after chromatography. During the elution step, freedom of choice was given to the students concerning the volume in which they must collect and how they should do it (using continuous or intermittent flow with the collection of fractions at different times), always having in mind the visual aspect of the eluate and chromatographic resin. This introduces variations in the affinity chromatography protocol, which may justify the significant differences in the total and target protein content between groups. Nevertheless, the final sample of the purification process (sample L) was the one with the highest degree of purity for all working groups. Some purity values were greater than 100%, probably due to the uncertainty of the analytical methods involved in these calculations (BCA and fluorescence assays) and/or human errors (imprecision of pipetting and miscalculation, among others).
Group | Sample | Total Protein Mass (mg) | eGFP Mass (mg) | Purity (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
G1 | G | 39.475 | 8.056 | 20.4 |
H | 29.709 | 1.176 | 4.0 | |
I | 3.759 | 1.207 | 32.1 | |
J | 5.146 | 5.325 | 103.5 | |
K | 0.248 | 0.051 | 20.6 | |
L | 2.686 | 3.737 | 139.1 | |
G2 | G | 68.138 | 9.323 | 13.7 |
H | 54.898 | 1.282 | 2.3 | |
I | 5.746 | 4.867 | 84.71 | |
J | 6.868 | 3.169 | 46.14 | |
K | 0.625 | 0.005 | 0.73 | |
L | 2.672 | 2.745 | 102.73 | |
G3 | G | 55.630 | 13.361 | 24.0 |
H | 51.235 | 1.358 | 2.7 | |
I | 1.993 | 1.067 | 53.5 | |
J | 0.580 | 0.227 | 39.1 | |
K | 0.191 | 0.007 | 3.7 | |
L | 1.621 | 2.743 | 169.2 | |
G4 | G | 23.586 | 13.530 | 57.36 |
H | 7.107 | 2.664 | 37.48 | |
I | 2.404 | 1.676 | 69.70 | |
J | 13.856 | 9.791 | 70.66 | |
K | 0.218 | 0.013 | 6.06 | |
L | 1.088 | 1.207 | 110.9 |
Group | Chromatography Yield (%) | Dialysis Yield (%) |
---|---|---|
G1 | 66.1 | 70.2 |
G2 | 34.0 | 86.6 |
G3 | 1.7 | 1208.4 * |
G4 | 72.4 | 12.3 |