Expression, purification, and bioactivity of a soluble recombinant ovine interferon-tau in Escherichia coli

Introduction: Ovine interferon-tau (oIFN-tau) is a newly discovered type I interferon. This study used biochemical techniques to transform the oIFN-tau gene into Escherichia coli to obtain the mass and soluble expression of the recombinant protein. Material and Methods: First, total RNA was extracted from fresh sheep embryonic tissues with TRIzol reagent and then used as a template to reverse transcribe and amplify the mature oIFN-tau gene with RT-PCR. The amplified product was next digested with the HindIII and XhoI restriction enzymes and inserted into the pET-32a(+) vector to construct the prokaryotic expression plasmid. The corrected in-frame recombinant plasmid, pET-32a(+)-oIFN-tau, was transformed into E. coli Rosetta (DE3) competent cells. After induction with isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), the recombinant protein was detected in bacteria. Finally, the bacteria were lysed by sonication, and the recombinant protein was purified by nickel affinity chromatography and DEAE anion exchange chromatography. Results: The protein was confirmed to be oIFN-tau, which mainly existed in the soluble lysate fraction, as proven by SDS-PAGE and Western blot assays. Conclusion: Purified IFN-tau exists mostly in a soluble form, and its anti-vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) activity reached 7.08x10(6)IU/mL.