Cloning and functional expression of CPP32 cDNA in E-coli

CPP32 has been recently reported to be involved in the early process of programmed cell death. To further study CPP32 and its regulation in the cell, a 830 bp cDNA was cloned by RTPCR from CNE cells encoding the full length human CPP32 protein and high level expression was achieved in E.coli by using GST expression system. The results showed that the bacterially expressed CPP32 protein is autocleaved and capable of cleaving in vitrotranslated PARP, thus is fully functional.