Intein applications: from protein purification and labeling to metabolic control methods

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Molecular Biology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Inteins are protein sequences that catalyze their own excision from a precursor protein.
• Initial discoveries in the 1990s led to early applications like self-cleaving tags and expressed protein ligation.
• Split inteins enable the joining of separately expressed protein fragments in vitro.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the evolution and expanding applications of intein technology.
• To highlight recent advancements in intein engineering and their impact.
• To showcase the versatility of inteins in modern biotechnology.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on intein discovery and engineering.
• Analysis of applications derived from native and engineered inteins.
• Examination of recent developments in trans-splicing and trans-cleaving inteins.

Main Results:

• Early engineered inteins facilitated self-cleaving affinity tags and expressed protein ligation.
• Split inteins enabled in vitro protein segment ligation.
• Highly efficient trans-splicing and trans-cleaving inteins have recently emerged, optimizing applications.

Conclusions:

• Intein technology has evolved significantly since its discovery.
• Advanced inteins offer powerful tools for diverse biotechnological applications.
• Inteins are crucial for metabolic engineering, protein labeling, biomaterials, cyclization, and purification.