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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2004, p. 3205-3212, Vol. 70, No. 6
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.6.3205-3212.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Molecular Microbiology, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Received 8 October 2003/ Accepted 31 January 2004
A new protein immobilization and purification system has been developed based on the use of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs, or bioplastics), which are biodegradable polymers accumulated as reserve granules in the cytoplasm of certain bacteria. The N-terminal domain of the PhaF phasin (a PHA-granule-associated protein) from Pseudomonas putida GPo1 was used as a polypeptide tag (BioF) to anchor fusion proteins to PHAs. This tag provides a novel way to immobilize proteins in vivo by using bioplastics as supports. The granules carrying the BioF fusion proteins can be isolated by a simple centrifugation step and used directly for some applications. Moreover, when required, a practically pure preparation of the soluble BioF fusion protein can be obtained by a mild detergent treatment of the granule. The efficiency of this system has been demonstrated by constructing two BioF fusion products, including a functional BioF-ß-galactosidase. This is the first example of an active bioplastic consisting of a biodegradable matrix carrying an active enzyme.
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