Two-step recovery process for tryptophan tagged cutinase: interfacing aqueous two-phase extraction and hydrophobic interaction chromatography

In this work, the interfacing of a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-phosphate aqueous two-phase system with hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) for primary recovery of an intracellular protein was evaluated. As a model protein, a recombinant cutinase furnished with a tryptophan-proline (WP) peptide tag was used and produced intracellularly in Escherichia coli (E. coli). E. coli cell homogenate was partitioned in a two-phase system and the top phase yield, concentration and purity of the tagged ZZ-cutinase-(WP)4 was evaluated as function of polymer sizes, system pH and phase volume ratio. The partition behaviour of cell debris, total protein and endotoxin was also monitored. In the HIC part, the chromatographic yield and purity was investigated with respect to ligand hydrophobicity, dilution of loaded top phase and elution conditions. Based on the results, a recovery process was demonstrated where a PEG 1500-K-Na phosphate salt aqueous two-phase system was interfaced with a HIC column. The interfacing was facilitated by the Trp-tagged peptide. The tagged ZZ-cutinase-(WP)4 was obtained in a PEG-free phase and purified to >95% purity according to silver stained sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) gels with a total yield of 83% during the two-step recovery process.     

Purification of plasmid DNA vectors by aqueous two-phase extraction and hydrophobic interaction chromatography

The current study explores the possibility of using a polyethyleneglycol(PEG)-ammonium sulphate aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) as an early step in a process for the purification of a model 6.1 kbp plasmid DNA (pDNA) vector. Neutralised alkaline lysates were fed directly to ATPS. Conditions were selected to direct pDNA towards the salt-rich bottom phase, so that this stream could be subsequently processed by hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). Screening of the best conditions for ATPS extraction was performed using three PEG molecular weights (300, 400 and 600) and varying the tie-line length, phase volume ratio and lysate load. For a 20% (w/w) lysate load, the best results were obtained with PEG 600 using the shortest tie-line (38.16%, w/w). By further manipulating the system composition along this tie-line in order to obtain a top/bottom phase volume ratio of 9.3 (35%, w/w PEG 600, 6%, w/w NH4)2 SO4), it was possible to recover 100% of pDNA in the bottom phase with a three-fold increase in concentration. Further increase in the lysate load up to 40% (w/w) with this system resulted in a eight-fold increase in pDNA concentration, but with a yield loss of 15%. The ATPS extraction was integrated with HIC and the overall process compared with a previously defined process that uses sequential precipitations with iso-propanol and ammonium sulphate prior to HIC. Although the final yield is lower in the ATPS-based process the purity grade of the final pDNA product is higher. This shows that it is possible to substitute the time-consuming two-step precipitation procedure by a simple ATPS extraction.     

Polyethylene glycol increases purification and recovery, alters retention behavior in flow-through chromatography of hemoglobin

Flow-through chromatography was a method for purification of hemoglobin (Hb) from red cell lysate. The presence of 0-5% polyethylene glycol (PEG) increased the retention time of Hb peak from 15 min to 20 min in flow-through ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) but decreased the retention time from 88 min to 62 min in the hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). However, the purification and the recovery were both increased. For IEC the recovery of hemoglobin increased from 75% to more than 90%, and the purified Hb showed single band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and one peak in size-exclusion HPLC. For HIC, the recovery of hemoglobin was improved significantly from 20% to 85% and the removal of lipids was 100%. The bioactivity of hemoglobin was well preserved in these two chromatographic processes. The mechanism for the effect of PEG in these two flow-through chromatographic processes was discussed.     

Downstream processing of antibodies: Single-stage versus multi-stage aqueous two-phase extraction

Single-stage and multi-stage strategies have been evaluated and compared for the purification of human antibodies using liquid–liquid extraction in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) composed of polyethylene glycol 3350 (PEG 3350), dextran, and triethylene glycol diglutaric acid (TEG-COOH). The performance of single-stage extraction systems was firstly investigated by studying the effect of pH, TEG-COOH concentration and volume ratio on the partitioning of the different components of a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells supernatant. It was observed that lower pH values and high TEG-COOH concentrations favoured the selective extraction of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) to the PEG-rich phase. Higher recovery yields, purities and percentage of contaminants removal were always achieved in the presence of the ligand, TEG-COOH. The extraction of IgG could be enhanced using higher volume ratios, however with a significant decrease in both purity and percentage of contaminants removal. The best single-stage extraction conditions were achieved for an ATPS containing 1.3% (w/w) TEG-COOH with a volume ratio of 2.2, which allowed the recovery of 96% of IgG in the PEG-rich phase with a final IgG concentration of 0.21 mg/mL, a protein purity of 87% and a total purity of 43%. In order to enhance simultaneously both recovery yield and purity, a four stage cross-current operation was simulated and the corresponding liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE) data determined. A predicted optimised scheme of a counter-current multi-stage aqueous two-phase extraction was hence described. IgG can be purified in the PEG-rich top phase with a final recovery yield of 95%, a final concentration of 1.04 mg/mL and a protein purity of 93%, if a PEG/dextran ATPS containing 1.3% (w/w) TEG-COOH, 5 stages and volume ratio of 0.4 are used. Moreover, according to the LLE data of all CHO cells supernatant components, it was possible to observe that most of the cells supernatant contaminants can be removed during this extraction step leading to a final total purity of about 85%.     

Application of central composite design to the optimisation of aqueous two-phase extraction of human antibodies

The partition of human antibodies in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and phosphate was systematically studied using first pure proteins systems and then an artificial mixture of proteins containing 1mg/ml human immunoglobulin G (IgG), 10mg/ml serum albumin and 2mg/ml myoglobin. Preliminary results obtained using pure proteins systems indicated that the PEG molecular weight and concentration, the pH value and the salts concentration had a pronounced effect on the partitioning behaviour of all proteins. For high ionic strengths and pH values higher than the isoelectric point (pI) of the contaminant proteins, IgG could be selectively recovered on the top phase. According to these results, a face centred composite design was performed in order to optimise the purification of IgG from the mixture of proteins. The optimal conditions for the isolation of IgG were observed for high concentrations of NaCl and low concentrations of both phase forming components. The best purification was achieved using an ATPS containing 8% (w/w) PEG 3350, 10% (w/w) phosphate pH 6 and 15% (w/w) NaCl. A recovery yield of 101+/-7%, a purity of 99+/-0% and a yield of native IgG of 97+/-4% were obtained. Back extraction studies of IgG to a new phosphate phase were performed and higher yields were obtained using 10% phosphate buffer at pH 6. The total extraction yield was 76% and the purity 100%.     

Composition analysis of poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactide) diblock copolymer studied by two-dimensional column chromatography

We used two-dimensional column chromatography to analyze the composition of a sample of presumably a diblock copolymer of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(L-lactide) synthesized from monomethoxy-terminated PEG. The first dimension of the separation is phase fluctuation chromatography to prepare fractions that contain various components of the copolymer in different ratios. The second dimension is size-exclusion chromatography, NMR, and HPLC at the critical condition of PEG. The PEG initiator has small amounts of diol-terminated dimeric components. We found that the copolymer sample contains a triblock copolymer and low-molecular-mass components in addition to the main part of the diblock copolymer. The SEC chromatograms show that the main part consists of two components with distinct peak lengths for the PLLA block. The low-molecular-mass components have a broad distribution in chemical composition. Phase fluctuation chromatography enriched the triblock copolymer and the diblock copolymer with the longer PLLA block in early fractions when the column was packed with carboxymethyl-modified porous silica. When the porous medium was PLLA-grafted silica, size exclusion dominated, but the low-molecular-mass components were separated according to their chemical composition.     

Preparation of hydrophobic interaction chromatographic packings based on monodisperse poly(glycidylmethacrylate-co-ethylenedimethacrylate) beads and their application

The monodisperse, poly(glycidylmethacrylate-co-ethylenedimethacrylate) beads with macroporous in the range of 8.0-12.0 microm were prepared by a single-step swelling and polymerization method. The seed particles prepared by dispersion polymerization exhibited good absorption of the monomer phase. The pore size distribution of the beads was evaluated by gel permeation chromatography and mercury instrusion method. Based on this media, a hydrophobic interaction chromatographic (HIC) stationary phase for HPLC was synthesized by a new chemically modified method. The prepared resin has advantages for biopolymer separation, high column efficiency, low column backpressure, high protein mass recovery and good resolution for proteins. The dynamic protein loading capacity of the synthesized HIC packings was 40.0 mg/ml. Six proteins were fast separated in less than 8.0 min using the synthesized HIC stationary phase. The HIC resin was firstly used for the purification and simultaneous renaturation of recombinant human interferon-gamma (rhIFN-gamma) in the extract solution containing 7.0 mol/l guanidine hydrochloride with only one step. The purity and specific bioactivity of the purified of rhIFN-gamma was found more than 95% and 1.3 x 10(8) IU/mg, respectively.     

Preparative SEC column packed with microporous particles prepared from cellulose

New microporous particles with large pore size (mean pore diameter of 820 nm) are successfully prepared from a mixture of cellulose and konjac glucomannan (RC-KGM3) in 1.5 M NaOH-0.65 M thiourea aqueous solution by coagulating with 5 weight percentage (wt%) CaCl(2), and then 2 wt% HCl aqueous solution. A preparative size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC) column packed with the gel particles is used for the fractionation of a dextran in water. The exclusion limit and fractionation range of the stationary phase are molecular masses of 125 yen 104 g/mol and 5.6 yen 104 to 125 yen 104 g/mol, respectively. The dextran [dextran 50, weight-average molecular mass (M(w)) = 40.1 yen 104 g/mol, polydispersity index (d) = 3.5] is fractionated by the preparative SEC column to obtain six fractions, and four of them are refractionated twice by the same preparative SEC column. The refractionated samples F-3-3 and F-4-3 are characterized by analytical SEC combined with laser light scattering and light scattering to obtain M(w) of 91.8 and 61.9 yen 104 g/mol, as well as d of 1.3 and 1.4, respectively. The results indicate that the fractions having narrow molecular mass distribution are satisfactorily prepared with the SEC column. The described SEC column can be successfully used to fractionate polymers in aqueous solution.     

Extraction of Ascorbate Oxidase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cucurbita maxima</Emphasis> by Continuous Process in Perforated Rotating Disc Contactor Using Aqueous Two-Phase Systems

The ascorbate oxidase is the enzyme used to determine the content of ascorbic acid in the pharmaceutical and food industries and clinics analyses. The techniques currently used for the purification of this enzyme raise its production cost. Thus, the development of alternative processes and with the potential to reduce costs is interesting. The application of aqueous two-phase system is proposed as an alternative to purification because it enables good separation of biomolecules. The objective of this study was to determine the conditions to continuously pre-purify the enzyme ascorbate oxidase by an aqueous two-phase system (PEG/citrate) using rotating column provided with perforated discs. Under the best conditions (20,000 g/mol PEG molar mass, 10% PEG concentration, and 25% citrate concentration), the system showed satisfactory results (partition coefficient, 3.35; separation efficiency, 54.98%; and purification factor, 1.46) and proved suitable for the pre-purification of ascorbate oxidase in continuous process.     

Multipurpose peptide tags for protein isolation

A multifunctional peptide tag (HYDHYD) consisting of histidine, tyrosine and aspartate residues was fused to the N-terminal ends of green fluorescent protein (GFP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and human hemoglobin (Hb), proteins which were subjected to ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), aqueous two-phase system partition, immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC), and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). Tagged GFP was retained significantly longer (>1 column volume) in both HIC and IEC. It exhibited 3x greater partition in favor of the hydrophobic phase in a two-phase system and 96% could be bound to an IMAC column which did not bind native GFP.     

Purification of human immunoglobulin G by thermoseparating aqueous two-phase systems

The purification of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) from a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells supernatant was studied using an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) composed of ethylene oxide/propylene oxide (UCON) and dextran. In UCON/dextran systems IgG partitions preferentially to the less hydrophobic dextran-rich phase (Kp<1). The addition of triethylene glycol-diglutaric acid (TEG-COOH) shifted the IgG partition into the upper phase showing significant improvements in both the recovery yields and purity. The purification of IgG from a CHO cell supernatant with UCON 2000/dextran/TEG-COOH system was optimised using a central composite design. Using an ATPS composed of 8% UCON, 6% dextran and 20% TEG-COOH, IgG was purified, in two steps, with a global yield of 85% and 88% purity. Statistical valid models were obtained to predict the effect of the experimental conditions on the IgG yield and purity, for both extraction and back-extraction steps. A system composed of 10% UCON, 5.5% dextran and 20% TEG-COOH was identified as the best compromise between final purity and yield.     

One-step purification of alpha-amylase from the cultivation supernatant of recombinant bacillus subtilis by high-speed counter-current chromatography with aqueous polymer two-phase systems

Purification of alpha-amylase from the cultivation supernatant of recombinant Bacillus subtilis by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) in polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000-inorganic salt aqueous polymer two-phase systems was studied. The effects of sodium chloride concentration on the partition coefficients of alpha-amylase and total protein were respectively tested in PEG4000-phosphate and PEG4000-citrate aqueous polymer two-phase systems to find the proper range of sodium chloride concentration for the HSCCC purification of alpha-amylase. Alpha-amylase was purified from the cultivation supernatant by HSCCC in PEG4000-phosphate system containing 2% (w/w) sodium chloride, yet with considerable loss of activity. PEG4000-citrate aqueous polymer two-phase system containing 2% (w/w) sodium chloride and supplemented with 0.56% (w/w) CaCl2 as protective agent was then successfully applied to purify alpha-amylase from cultivation supernatant by HSCCC to homogeneity and significantly increased the recovery of alpha-amylase activity from around 30 to 73.1%.     

Partitioning of lactate dehydrogenase from bovine heart crude extract by polyethylene glycol-citrate aqueous two-phase systems

Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-citrate have been used for enzyme partitioning studies. The behavior of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from bovine heart crude extract was analyzed using a two-level factorial design in which the PEG molar mass and concentration, the citrate concentration were selected as independent variables, while the purification factor, the partition coefficient (K) and the activity yield were selected as responses. The statistical analysis revealed the effect of PEG molar mass on K. LDH exhibited a better partitioning toward PEG-rich phase and the highest K value (1079.81) was obtained with 42% (w/w) PEG 400 and 7.5% (w/w) citrate concentration. PEG molar mass also influenced the purification factor of the enzyme in the top phase. Possibly these ATPS remove inhibitors present in the extract affording higher enzyme yield.     

Surfactant-aided size-exclusion chromatography for the purification of immunoglobulin G

In the production of monoclonal antibodies, separate chains of the antibody are often present in the product mixture as well as other contaminating proteins. These fragments should be removed from the whole antibodies. This paper shows the purification of monoclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG) from its heavy chain contaminant. The heavy chain fragment is simulated experimentally using bovine serum albumin (BSA), which has approximately the same molecular weight. The purification is performed using traditional size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and using surfactant-aided SEC (SASEC), testing two different surfactants (C(12)E(23) and Tween20) and two different gels (Sephacryl S200HR and Sephacryl S300 HR). Pulse experiments show that with SASEC both BSA and IgG are more distributed towards the solid phase than compared to using SEC. This effect is larger on IgG, the largest component than on BSA. As a consequence, azeotropes will be formed at a specific surfactant concentration. Above this concentration the selectivity is reversed and increased to values higher than obtained with conventional SEC. At 7.5% (w/w) of C(12)E(23), BSA actually elutes before IgG. These experiments further show that when using SASEC larger productivity, higher yields and lower solvent consumption can be achieved without loss of purity of IgG when compared to conventional SEC. Mathematical simulation of the separation of BSA and IgG using simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography indicates a large increase in productivity when applying a surfactant gradient in SASEC SMB compared to conventional isocratic SEC-SMB. Furthermore, solvent consumption reductions with a factor 15 prove possible as well as concentrating the IgG by a factor 2.     

Purification and identification of PEGlated hemoglobin, a potential blood substitute, by chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Summary Bovine hemoglobin (Hb) has been chemically modified, by reaction of its lysine residues with the active ester of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG,M _w=5000), to produce a potential blood substitute for human therapy. Covalent attachment of PEG chain to the protein produced a heterogeneous mixture of Hb from the mixture. This paper describes the use of cation-exchange chromatography (IEC), in flow-through mode, and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) for purification of the PEG-Hb mixture. The highly modified Hb flowed through the IEC column in the loading buffer without adsorption by the chromatographic medium. SEC was then used for further purification. These two steps were suitable for pilot-scale preparation or for analytical chromatography. The purified product was assessed by high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE), which was also used to optimize the chromatographic parameters.     

Retention Behavior of Polyethylene Glycol and Its Influence on Protein Elution on Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography Media

The retention behavior of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on different types of hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) resins containing butyl, octyl, and phenyl ligands was analyzed. An incomplete elution or splitting of the polymer peak into two parts was observed, where the first one was eluted at the dead time of the column, whereas the second one was strongly retained. The phenomenon was attributed to conformation changes of the polymer upon its adsorption on hydrophobic surface. The effect enhanced with increasing molecular weight of the polymer and hydrophobicity of the HIC media. Addition of PEG to the mobile phase reduced binding of proteins to HIC resins, which was demonstrated with two model systems: lysozyme (LYZ) and immunoglobulin G (IgG), and their mixtures. In case of LYZ, the presence of PEG caused reduction in the protein retention, whereas for IgG—a decrease in efficiency of the protein capture. The effect depended on the adsorption pattern of PEG; it was pronounced in the systems in which conformational changes of the polymer were suggested to occur.     

Size-exclusion chromatography using deuterated mobile phases

The effect of deuterated solvents in size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) was studied by comparing intrinsic viscosity measurements, SEC calibration curves, and column efficiency using water-soluble polymers. For aqueous SEC, the use of deuterium oxide slightly increases the SEC elution volume. To verify that adsorption onto the packing was absent, data from exclusion experiments were compared at 35 and 50 degrees C. Our results indicate that adsorption is not occurring for pullulan or polyethylene glycol (PEG)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO); for the latter, however, the elution volume increased using both D2O and H2O, indicative of slight hydrodynamic volume contraction of PEG/PEO at higher temperatures. A moderate increase in band broadening (moderate decrease in column efficiency) was observed using D2O. Finally, the effects of chloroform versus deuterated chloroform were evaluated, but no hydrodynamic volume changes were observed.     

Preparative size-exclusion chromatography for purification and characterization of colloidal quantum dots bound by chromophore-labeled polymers and low-molecular-weight chromophores

We explore the use of preparative size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to purify quantum dots (QDs) after surface modification. In one example, in which Bio-Beads (S-X1) were used as the packing material for the preparative SEC column, CdSe QDs treated with a functional coumarin dye could be separated from the excess free dye by using tetrahydrofuran (THF) as the mobile phase. This column was unable to separate polymer-coated QDs from free polymer (M ∼ 8000) because of the relatively low cutoff mass of the column. Here a preparative HPLC column packed with TOYOPEARL gel allowed the effective separation of polymer-bound QDs from the excess free polymer by using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) as the mobile phase. When other solvents such as absolute ethanol, acetonitrile, THF, and THF–triethylamine mixtures were used as the eluent, QDs stuck to the column. While NMP was an effective medium to remove excess free polymer from the QDs, it was difficult to transfer the purified QDs to more volatile solvents and maintain colloidal stability.     

Affinity partitioning of human antibodies in aqueous two-phase systems

The partitioning of human immunoglobulin (IgG) in a polymer-polymer and polymer-salt aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) in the presence of several functionalised polyethylene glycols (PEGs) was studied. As a first approach, the partition studies were performed with pure IgG using systems in which the target protein remained in the bottom phase when the non-functionalised systems were tested. The effect of increasing functionalised PEG concentration and the type of ligand were studied. Afterwards, selectivity studies were performed with the most successful ligands first by using systems containing pure proteins and an artificial mixture of proteins and, subsequently, with systems containing a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells supernatant. The PEG/phosphate ATPS was not suitable for the affinity partitioning of IgG. In the PEG/dextran ATPS, the diglutaric acid functionalised PEGs (PEG-COOH) displayed great affinity to IgG, and all IgG could be recovered in the top phase when 20% (w/w) of PEG 150-COOH and 40% (w/w) PEG 3350-COOH were used. The selectivity of these functionalised PEGs was evaluated using an artificial mixture of proteins, and PEG 3350-COOH did not show affinity to IgG in the presence of typical serum proteins such as human serum albumin and myoglobin, while in systems with PEG 150-COOH, IgG could be recovered with a yield of 91%. The best purification of IgG from the CHO cells supernatant was then achieved in a PEG/dextran ATPS in the presence of PEG 150-COOH with a recovery yield of 93%, a purification factor of 1.9 and a selectivity to IgG of 11. When this functionalised PEG was added to the ATPS, a 60-fold increase in selectivity was observed when compared to the non-functionalised systems.     

Purification of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside with column chromatography on a sephadex LH-20

A simplified and efficient method is developed for the large-scale purification of the secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) from defatted flaxseed after aqueous ethanol extraction. Extractant from defatted flaxseed with aqueous ethanol is hydrolyzed with basic solution, concentrated under vacuum, subjected to Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and eluted with aqueous ethanol of different concentrations. Elution is monitored by a UV detector at 280 nm, and fractions containing SDG are pooled, concentrated, and applied to a second column chromatography under the same conditions. Elution with water results in a better resolution of SDG [94.5% by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)] than that with pure ethanol or 50% (v/v) aqueous ethanol. HPLC-photodiode array detection-mass spectrometry and NMR are applied to identify SDG and to determine the purity of the eluted fraction. This simplified purification scheme avoids toxic organic solvent used in the common silica gel separation process and, thus, increases the safety of the process.