Refolding and Purification of Yeast Acetyl-CoA Carboxylases CT Domain Expressed as Inclusion Bodies in Escherichia coli

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase(ACCase) is a crucial enzyme in fatty acid synthesis, by regulating the first committed step in the process. Therefore, it is a potential target for the development of new compounds against obesity or as herbicides. The cDNA encoding yeast ACCase CT domains(YCTs) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was amplified by RT-PCR and inserted into the vector PET28a(+) for bacterial expression of YCT fused to N-terminal His-tag(YCT-his6). YCTs-his6 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) PLys as inclusion bodies, which was solubilized in 8 mol/L urea. Ni-agarose chromatography was used to purify the inclusion bodies under denaturing condition. Correct refolding was achieved via systematic dialysis to remove the denaturant gently in the presence of 0.5 mmol/L Triton X-100. The low concentration Triton X-100 was included in the refolding buffer to increase the solubilization and enhance dimeric formation of refolding proteins. The activity of the refolded YCT-his6 was 1.2 U/mg as measured in a spectrophotometric assay using malonyl-CoA as the substrate. To our knowledge, it is the first time that the bioactive YCT-his6 has been expressed successfully in E. coli and isolated from their inclusion bodies.