QIAexpress Type IV Kit

Since imidazole absorbs UV radiation at 280 nm, an elution profile measured at 280 nm while purifying a 6xHis tagged protein by FPLC will show an increase in absorbance above the background signal allowing quantitation of your protein. The absorbance of imidazole can vary depending on its source and purity, but elution buffer containing 250 mM imidazole usually has an A₂₈₀ of 0.2–0.4.

To quantitate proteins in eluates containing imidazole, we recommend the Bradford protein assay, which is based on the ability of Coomassie Brilliant Blue R250 to form strong complexes with proteins. This assay is more tolerant of higher imidazole concentrations than the Lowry and the biuret assay, which are more sensitive to imidazole because they involve the reduction of copper. For accurate measurements, always use elution buffer without protein as the reagent blank.

The most commonly used protease inhibitors and their working concentrations are included in the table below:

* PMSF is inactivated in aqueous solutions and should be added to buffers immediately before use. The half-life of an aqueous solution of PMSF is around 30 minutes at pH 8.

All these protease inhibitors are normally prepared as stock solutions and stored in aliquots at –20°C. Stock solutions are usually stable for up to six months. In addition, ready-to-use mixtures of protease inhibitors are available. Complete Protease Inhibitor Cocktail Tablets (Roche Molecular Biochemicals) are available in an EDTA-free formulation and are recommended for use during the purification of 6xHis-tagged proteins under native conditions.

The binding capacity of both resins is the same: up to 50mg/ ml mg 6xHis-tagged protein per ml of resin (2500 nmol @ ~20 kDa). The difference between them is the bead support, which determines pressure resistance and flow rate:

Ni-NTA Agarose:

• Sepharose CL-6B (bead size 45–165 µm)
• max. volumetric: 0.5–1.0 ml/min
• max. pressure: 2.8 psi/(0.2bar)
• for use with gravity flow only

Ni-NTA Superflow:

• Superflow (bead size 60–160 µm)
• max. volumetric: 20 ml/min
• max. pressure: 140 psi/(10bar)
• for use with gravity flow or FPLC

You can find a detailed comparison table in the Appendix at the back of the QIAexpressionist Handbook under the title 'Ni-NTA Matrices'.

The QIAexpress Protein Purification System allows easy solubilization of 6xHis-tagged proteins sequestered into insoluble inclusion bodies by using denaturants such as 6 M Guanidine-HCl or 8 M Urea, or a variety of detergents. Proteins purified under denaturing conditions can then be refolded if necessary before use (please see: Wingfield, P. T., Palmer, I., and Liang, S.-M. (1995). Folding and purification of insoluble (inclusion-body) proteins from Escherichia coli. In: Current Protocols in Protein Science, vol. 1, Coligan, J. E., Dunn, B. M., Ploegh, H. L., Speicher, D. W., and Wingfield, P.T. eds. Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, pp. 6.5.1–6.5.27.). The QIAexpressionist also contains recommendations for refolding proteins prior to the Appendix section of the handbook.

To increase levels of soluble protein, here are a few recommendations:

• a reduction in growth temperature following induction may be helpful. Growth temperature often directly affects both expression levels and protein solubility, and lower temperatures will reduce expression levels leading to a higher amount of soluble protein.
• the culture can be grown to a higher cell density before induction and the expression period can be kept to a minimum.
• The IPTG concentration can be reduced from 1 mM to 0.005 mM, which would reduce the expression level by 90–95%.
• it may be sufficient to change the host strain used, since certain strains tolerate some proteins better than others and allow higher levels of expression before forming inclusion bodies.
• many proteins require metal cofactors in order to remain soluble, and the addition of metal salts to the culture media may be helpful. If the metal requirements of the protein are not known, a number of different supplements should be tested. Note that some divalent cations may interfere with protein binding to Ni-NTA.

In general, it is only necessary to prepare the insert by restriction digestion and gel purification. The fragment can be ligated into the vector directly. If there is no appropriate restriction site, if it is desirable to minimize the number of extra codons, or if the construct must be optimized in some other way, more complicated manipulations may be necessary. The ends of coding fragments can be modified by PCR, by in vitro mutagenesis, or by the addition of linkers. Please refer to standard laboratory manuals for details on such procedures.

If the 6xHis tag needs to be integrated into other vectors, please follow the recommendations in the 'Cloning' chapter of the QIAexpressionist handbook, section "Integration of 6xHis tags in other vectors".

• Use 10-20 mM imidazole in the lysis and wash buffers (both for native and denaturing conditions). Optimal imidazole concentrations have to be determined empirically.
• Increase the NaCl concentration (up to 2 M) in the purification buffers to reduce the binding of contaminants as a result of nonspecific ionic interactions.
• Add ß-mercaptoethanol (up to 20 mM) to the lysis buffer to prevent copurification of host proteins that may have formed disulfide bonds with the protein of interest during cell lysis.
• Add detergents such as Triton X-100 and Tween 20 (up to 2%), or additives such as glycerol (up to 50%) or ethanol (up to 20%) to reduce nonspecific binding to the matrix due to nonspecific hydrophobic interactions.
• Reduce the amount of Ni-NTA matrix. Low-affinity binding of background proteins will be reduced by matching the total binding capacity of Ni-NTA matrix with the expected amount of 6xHis-tagged protein.

Nonionic detergents such as Triton X-100 (0.1 - 1%) and Tween 20 (up to 2%) can be used to reduce non-specific binding of contaminating proteins due to non-specific hydrophobic or ionic interactions. They will have no effect on the binding of 6xHis-tagged protein to the Ni-NTA resin when used within the recommended concentration range.

Optimal concentrations for these additives to binding and wash buffers should be determined empirically for each purification protocol and protein.

To optimize the expression of a given recombinant protein, a time-course analysis of the level of protein expression in the induced culture is recommended. Intracellular protein content is often a balance between the amount of soluble protein in the cells, the formation of inclusion bodies, and protein degradation. By checking the 6xHis-tagged protein present at various times after induction in the soluble and insoluble fractions, the optimal induction period can be established, and the bacterial culture can be harvested at this time. It may be useful to perform plasmid Mini preparations on culture samples during the time-course to enable monitoring of plasmid (expression construct) maintenance.

Below, you can see an example of a time course of recombinant protein expression using the QIAexpress System. You can find this information also in the Section 'Expression in E. coli' in the QIAexpressionist Handbook. The handbook is an important resource for useful background information and protocols. For instructions on how to isolate protein from the soluble and insoluble fractions of induced cultures please see Protocol 14. "Protein minipreps of 6x His-tagged proteins from E. coli under native conditions" and Protocol 19. "6xHis-tagged protein minipreps under denaturing conditions."

Time course of expression using the QIAexpress System. Expression of 6xHis-tagged DHFR was induced with 1 mM IPTG. Aliquots were removed at the times indicated and purified on Ni-NTA Agarose under denaturing conditions. Proteins were visualized by Coomassie staining. Yields per liter culture were 2.8, 5.5,12.3, 33.8, and 53.9 mg, respectively. ■A Crude cell lysate; ■B purification with Ni-NTA. 1: flow-through, 2 & 3: first and second eluates; M: markers; C: noninduced control.