Cloning and expression of the enzymatic region of Streptococcal hyaluronidase

Streptococcus pyogenes produces extracellular hyaluronidase enzyme. This enzyme is directly associated with the spread of the organism during infection. The objective of the present study was to clone and express the nucleotide sequence of the enzyme which is involved in hyaluronidase enzymatic activity.

The enzymatic region of hyaluronidase gene was detected by bioinformatics method. The PCR method was used to amplify enzymatic region of hyaluronidase gene from chromosomal DNA of Streptococcus pyogenes. The eluted product was cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET32a which was digested by BamHI and HindIII restriction endonuclease enzymes. The target protein was expressed in the Escherichia coli. The bacteria including pET32a-hylA (hylA is abbreviation of Streptococcus pyogenes hyaluronidase gene and hylA is abbreviation of Streptococcus pyogenes hyaluronidase protein) plasmids were induced by IPTG and analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The enzymatic evaluation and antigenicity was finally studied.

Enzymes digestion analysis, sequencing results showed that the target gene (1296 base pair) was inserted correctly into the recombinant vector. The expressed protein (65 KDa) was purified successfully via affinity chromatography. Data also indicated that enzymatic region of hyaluronidase protein from Streptococcus pyogenes was recognized in all 5 patient's sera.

In general, it is possible to produce the enzymatic regions of the Streptococcus pyogenes hyaluronidase in E. coli. The antigenic property of the produced protein is well retained. Considering the product's domestic demand and also low efficiency of production and pathogenicity of Streptococcus species, it is possible to produce it as recombinant product.