Theeraphon Piacham. Metal-supporting polymer for superoxide dismutase mimics and construction of metal-binding tag for protein purification . Master's Degree(Medical Technology). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Metal-supporting polymer for superoxide dismutase mimics and construction of metal-binding tag for protein purification
Abstract:
A Polymer-supported manganese catalyst possessing superoxide dismutase (SOD)
activity was synthesized. Matrices consisting of either 4-vinylimidazole (4V) or 1-
vinylimidazole (1V) in combination with methacrylic acid (MAA), which were expected to
provide avidity to Mn (II) similar to that of the combination of histidine and aspartic acid
residues at an active site of SOD, were selected as functional monomers to form a
coordination sphere with template metal in a cross-linked polymer. All these matrices were
prepared to form polymers through free radical polymerization, using excess amounts of the
cross-linking monomer, ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EDMA). Mimicing the SOD activity
of the polymers was assayed by measuring the inhibition of the photoreduction of nitro blue
tetrazolium (NBT). It was anticipated that this catalytic activity would generate from the
coordination between a metal center and a complex of three imidazole and one carboxyl
groups as in the case of the native enzyme. Surprisingly, the polymer Mn-P1VMAA
exhibited much higher activity than did the Mn-P4VMAA. Omitting one of the functional
monomers (1V or MAA) resulted in a decrease in SOD activity. These findings strongly
support a high potential for the application of the catalytic metal based-imprinted polymer for
therapeutic use in the future.
The metal-binding tag was applied as a powerful approach for protein purification. The
tagger was inserted into the protein of interest at the gene level. Based on the concept that
polyhistidine bind tightly with a number of transition metals including Cu2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ and
Co2+, the hexahistidine-tagged GFPuv generated from the gene fusion technique here could be
purified with Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) charged with zinc ions.
Zinc ions rather than copper or nickel ions, were chosen as a linker on account of the very low
adsorptivity of the native GFPuv. Although the purification fold of the H6GFP was not
greater than that of the native GFPuv, the H6GFPuv was highly pure and the purified protein
could easily be obtained in a one-step purification process. Furthermore, an enterokinase
cleavage site (DDDDK) could also be inserted to allow for the removal of the hexahistidine
sequence after purification in such a way that the fusion partner might interfere or disturb the
properties of the native protein. However, neither the metal-binding region nor the
enterokinase cleavage site affected either the fluorescent emission or the capacity to bind with
the protease of the chimeric protease-binding GFPuv. These findings clearly indicate that the
metal-binding tag could simply be fused to assist protein purification and the purified
chimeric protease-binding GFPuv can directly be applied as a potential tool for protease
detection in the future