Improved protein refolding using hollow-fibre membrane dialysis

We have used a cellulose acetate, hollow-fibre (HF) ultrafiltration membrane to refold bovine carbonic anhydrase, loaded into the lumen space, by removing the denaturant through controlled dialysis via the shell side space. When challenged with GdnHCl-denatured carbonic anhydrase, 70% of the loaded protein reptated through the membrane into the circulating dialysis buffer. Reptation occurred because the protein, in its fully unfolded configuration, was able to pass through the pores. The loss of carbonic anhydrase through the membrane was controlled by the dialysis conditions. Dialysis against 0.05 M Tris-HCl for 30 min reduced the denaturant around the protein to a concentration that allowed the return of secondary structure, increasing the hydrodynamic radius, thus preventing protein transmission. Under these conditions a maximum of 42% of carbonic anhydrase was recovered (from a starting concentration of 5 mg/mL) with 94% activity. This is an improvement over refolding carbonic anhydrase by simple batch dilution, which gave a maximum reactivation of 85% with 35% soluble protein yield. The batch refolding of carbonic anhydrase is very sensitive to temperature; however, during HF refolding between 0 and 25 degrees C the temperature sensitivity was considerably reduced. In order to reduce the convection forces that give rise to aggregation and promote refolding the dialyzate was slowly heated from 4 to 25 degrees C. This slow, temperature-controlled refolding gave an improved soluble protein recovery of 55% with a reactivation yield of 90%. The effect of a number of additives on the refolding system performance were tested: the presence of PEG improved both the protein recovery and the recovered activity from the membrane, while the detergents Tween 20 and IGEPAL CA-630 increased only the refolding yield.