Large-scale production of soluble recombinant amyloid-β peptide 1-42 using cold-inducible expression system

Amyloid-β peptide 1-42 (Aβ(1-42)), the predominant form in senile plaques, plays important roles in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Because Aβ(1-42) has aggregation-prone nature, it has been difficult to produce in a soluble state in bacterial expression systems. In this study, we modified our expression system to increase the soluble fraction of Aβ(1-42) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells. The expression level and solubility of recombinant Aβ(1-42) induced at the low temperature (16°C) is highly increased compared to that induced at 37°C. To optimize expression temperature, the coding region of Aβ(1-42) was constructed in a pCold vector, pCold-TF, which has a hexahistidine-tagged trigger factor (TF). Recombinant Aβ(1-42) was expressed primarily as a soluble protein using pCold vector system and purified with a nickel-chelating resin. When the toxic effect of recombinant Aβ(1-42) examined on human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, the purified Aβ(1-42) induced cell toxicity on SH-SY5Y cells. In conclusion, the system developed in this study will provide a useful method for the production of aggregation prone-peptide such as Aβ(1-42).