Abstract
AIM: To identify a method for efficient large-scale purification of functional hepatitis B virus polymerase (HBV-Pol) without addition of cellular factors. METHODS: Full-length HBV-Pol (843 amino acids) tagged with 5' end Polyhistidine was expressed at a high level in an Escherichia coli (E. coli) system. Sodium dodecyl sulfate lysis buffer was utilized to dissolve insoluble HBVPol, and Ni-NTA resin affinity chromatography was utilized for HBV-Pol purification. Most recombinant HBV-Pol was eluted with 100 mmol/L imidazole in the presence of NP-40, a weak detergent that keeps HBV-Pol in solution. A reducing agent was utilized throughout the purification steps to keep soluble HBV-Pol from redundant disulfide bond formation. RESULTS: The large-scale production of functional intact human HBV-Pol was achieved in an E. coli expression system. Purified HBV-Pol showed stable reverse transcriptase activity and DNA polymerase activity. The purified protein was of high purity and had stable reverse transcriptase activity. CONCLUSION: Large-scale production of HBV-Pol in pure form should facilitate crystallization and detailed analysis of the structure and mechanism of HBV-Pol. Ability of this purification approach to obtain human HBVPol in an enzymatically active form should be helpful for development of drugs for treatment of chronic hepatitis B.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 5752-5758 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | World Journal of Gastroenterology |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 45 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2010 |
Keywords
- Detergent
- Hepatitis B Virus
- Reverse transcriptase
- Virus polymerase
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Gastroenterology