One-step purification of poly-his tagged penicillin G acylase expressed in E. coli

The inexpensive large-scale production of pure PGA (Penicillin G Acylase) has been a commercial goal. PGA has been used as a model enzyme in the development of simple one-step purification methods. In this study, the purification of poly-His tagged PGA protein secreted into the periplasmic space was carried out by using immobilized metal-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC). The PGA gene was obtained from E. coli ATCC 11105. Codons encoding histidines were fused at the C-terminus of the PGA gene by PCR. E. coli JM109 harboring pPGA-HIS6 vector produced active his-tagged acylases in the presence of lac promoter during cultivation at 26°C. The maximum specific activity of the acylase purified by using one-step chromatography after osmotic shock was 38.5 U/mg and was recovered with the yield of 70%. Both 23 kDa (α) and 62 kDa (β subunits were recovered by using IMAC with just C-terminus tagging of the β subunit. The purification of the periplasmic fraction by osmotic shock and that of purified acylase was increased by 2.6-fold and 19-fold, respectively, compared to the crude extract.