Enhanced Production of Dopa-Incorporated Mussel Adhesive Protein Using Engineered Translational Machineries

Mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs) have great potential as bioglues, in particular in wet conditions. Although in vivo residue-specific incorporation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa) in tyrosine-auxotrophic Escherichia coli cells allows production of bioengineered MAPs (bMAPs), the low production yield hinders the practical application of bMAPs. Such low production yield of Dopa-incorporated bMAPs (Dopa-bMAPs) was known to be caused by low translational activity of a noncanonical amino acid, Dopa, in E. coli cells. Herein, in order to enhance the production yield of Dopa-bMAPs, we investigated the coexpression of Dopa-recognizing tyrosyl-tRNA synthetases (TyrRSs). In order to use the Dopa-specific Methanococcus jannascii TyrRS (MjTyrRS-Dopa), we altered the anti-codon of tyrosyl-tRNA amber suppressor into AUA (MjtRNATyrAUA) to recgonize a tyrosine codon (MjtRNATyrAUA). Co-overexpression of MjTyrRS-Dopa and MjtRNATyrAUA increased the production yield of Dopa-MAP by 57%. Similarly, overexpression of E. coli TyrRS (EcTyrRS) led to a 72% higher production yield of Dopa-incorporated bMAP. Even with coexpression of Dopa-recognizing TyrRSs, Dopa-bMAPs have a high Dopa incorporation yield (over 90%) compared to Dopa-bMAPs prepared without any coexpression of TyrRS.