Enhancing multiple disulfide bonded protein folding in a cell-free system
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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Production of Disulfide-stabilized Transmembrane Peptide Complexes for Structural Studies
Published on: March 6, 2013
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5025, USA.
Abstract:
A recombinant plasminogen activator (PA) protein with nine disulfide bonds was expressed in our cell-free protein synthesis system. Due to the unstable and reducing environment in the initial E. coli-based cell-free system, disulfide bonds could not be formed efficiently. By treating the cell extract with iodoacetamide and utilizing a mixture of oxidized and reduced glutathione, a stabilized redox potential was optimized. Addition of DsbC, replacing polyethylene glycol with spermidine and putrescine to create a more natural environment, adding Skp, an E. coli periplasmic chaperone, and expressing PA at 30 degrees C increased the solubility of the protein product as well as the yield of active PA. Taken together, the modifications enabled the production of more than 60 microg/mL of bioactive PA in a simple 3-h batch reaction.
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