Name: the multibac protein complex production platform at the embl
Uploaded: 2013-07-11T12:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL at JoVE.com

We thank Christoph Bieniossek, Simon Trowitzsch, Daniel Fitzgerald, Yuichiro Takagi, Christiane Schaffitzel, Yvonne Hunziker, Timothy Richmond and all past and present members of the Berger laboratory for help and advice. The MultiBac platform and its development have been and are generously supported by funding agencies including the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Agence National de Recherche (ANR) and the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the European Commission (EC) in Framework programs (FP) 6 and 7. Support for transnational access is provided by the EC FP7 projects P-CUBE (<a href="http://www.p-cube.eu" target="_blank">www.p-cube.eu</a>) and BioStruct-X (<a href="http://www.biostruct-x.eu" target="_blank">www.biostruct-x.eu</a>). The French Ministry of Science is particularly acknowledged for supporting the MultiBac platform at the EMBL through the Investissement d'Avenir project FRISBI.

1. Tandem Recombineering (TR) for Creating Multigene Expression Constructs 
<ol>
 <li>Planning the co-expression strategy. Design approach for inserting your genes of interest into Donors and Acceptors. Potential physiological submodules of your complex should be grouped together on specific Acceptors and Donors. Use Multiplication Module consisting of Homing endonuclease (HE) - BstXI pairs to combine expression cassettes on individual Donor and Acceptor plasmids.7,8 Create all rele...

<ol>
	<li>Nie, Y., Viola, C., Bieniossek, C., Trowitzsch, S., Vijay-Achandran, L. S., Chaillet, M., Garzoni, F., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Getting+a+Grip+on+Complexes.">Getting a Grip on Complexes.</a> Curr. Genomics. 10 (8), 558-572 (2009).</li><li>Robinson, C. V., Sali, A., Baumeister, W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+molecular+sociology+of+the+cell.">The molecular sociology of the cell.</a> Nature. 450 (7172), 973-982 (2007).</li><li>Kost, T. A., Condreay, J. P., Jarvis, D. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Baculovirus+as+versatile+vectors+for+protein+expression+in+insect+and+mammalian+cells.">Baculovirus as versatile vectors for protein expression in insect and mammalian cells.</a> Nat. Biotechnol. 23 (5), 567-575 (2005).</li><li>Bieniossek, C., Imasaki, T., Takagi, Y., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=MultiBac:+expanding+the+research+toolbox+for+multiprotein+complexes.">MultiBac: expanding the research toolbox for multiprotein complexes.</a> Trends Biochem. Sci. 37 (2), 49-57 (2012).</li><li>Fitzgerald, D. J., Berger, P., Schaffitzel, C., Yamada, K., Richmond, T. J., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Protein+complex+expression+by+using+multigene+baculoviral+vectors.">Protein complex expression by using multigene baculoviral vectors.</a> Nat. Methods. 3 (12), 1021-1032 (2006).</li><li>Bieniossek, C., Richmond, T. J., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=MultiBac:+multigene+baculovirus-based+eukaryotic+protein+complex+production.">MultiBac: multigene baculovirus-based eukaryotic protein complex production.</a> Curr. Protoc. Protein Sci. Chapter 5, Unit 5.20 (2008).</li><li>Trowitzsch, S., Bieniossek, C., Nie, Y., Garzoni, F., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=New+baculovirus+expression+tools+for+recombinant+protein+complex+production.">New baculovirus expression tools for recombinant protein complex production.</a> J. Struct. Biol. 172 (1), 45-54 (2010).</li><li>Vijayachandran, L. S., Viola, C., Garzoni, F., Trowitzsch, S., Bieniossek, C., Chaillet, M., Schaffitzel, C., Busso, D., Romier, C., Poterszman, A., Richmond, T. J., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Robots,+pipelines,+polyproteins:+enabling+multiprotein+expression+in+prokaryotic+and+eukaryotic+cells.">Robots, pipelines, polyproteins: enabling multiprotein expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.</a> J. Struct. Biol. 175 (2), 198-208 (2011).</li><li>Thomas, M. C., Chiang, C. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+general+transcription+machinery+and+general+cofactors.">The general transcription machinery and general cofactors.</a> Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 41 (3), 105-178 (2006).</li><li>Klinge, S., Voigts-Hoffmann, F., Leibundgut, M., Ban, N. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Atomic+structures+of+the+eukaryotic+ribosome.">Atomic structures of the eukaryotic ribosome.</a> Trends Biochem. Sci. 37 (5), 189-198 (2012).</li><li>Melnikov, S., Ben-Shem, A., Garreau de Loubresse, N., Jenner, L., Yusupova, G., Yusupov, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=One+core,+two+shells:+bacterial+and+eukaryotic+ribosomes.">One core, two shells: bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes.</a> Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 19 (6), 560-567 (2012).</li><li>Cramer, P., Bushnell, D. A., Fu, J., Gnatt, A. L., Maier-Davis, B., Thompson, N. E., Burgess, R. R., Edwards, A. M., David, P. R., Kornberg, R. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Architecture+of+RNA+polymerase+II+and+implications+for+the+transcription+mechanism.">Architecture of RNA polymerase II and implications for the transcription mechanism.</a> Science. 288 (5466), 640-649 (2000).</li><li>Berger, I., Fitzgerald, D. J., Richmond, T. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Baculovirus+expression+system+for+heterologous+multiprotein+complexes.">Baculovirus expression system for heterologous multiprotein complexes.</a> Nat. Biotechnol. 22 (12), 1583-1587 (2004).</li><li>Bieniossek, C., Nie, Y., Frey, D., Olieric, N., Schaffitzel, C., Collinson, I., Romier, C., Berger, P., Richmond, T. J., Steinmetz, M. O., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Automated+unrestricted+multigene+recombineering+for+multiprotein+complex+production.">Automated unrestricted multigene recombineering for multiprotein complex production.</a> Nat. Methods. 6 (6), 447-450 (2009).</li><li>Nie, Y., Bieniossek, C., Frey, D., Olieric, N., Schaffitzel, C., Steinmetz, M. O., Berger, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=ACEMBLing+multigene+expression+constructs+by+recombineering.">ACEMBLing multigene expression constructs by recombineering.</a> Nat. Protocols. , (2009).</li><li>Wasilko, D. J., Lee, S. E., Stutzman-Engwall, K. J., Reitz, B. A., Emmons, T. L., Mathis, K. J., Bienkowski, M. J., Tomasselli, A. G., Fischer, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=H.D.+titerless+infected-cells+preservation+and+scale-up+(TIPS)+method+for+large-scale+production+of+NO-sensitive+human+soluble+guanylate+cyclase+(sGC)+from+insect+cells+infected+with+recombinant+baculovirus.">H.D. titerless infected-cells preservation and scale-up (TIPS) method for large-scale production of NO-sensitive human soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) from insect cells infected with recombinant baculovirus.</a> Protein Expr. Purif. 65 (2), 122-132 (2009).</li><li>Chao, W. C., Kulkarni, K., Zhang, Z., Kong, E. H., Barford, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structure+of+the+mitotic+checkpoint+complex.">Structure of the mitotic checkpoint complex.</a> Nature. 484 (7393), 208-213 (2012).</li><li>Yamada, K., Frouws, T. D., Angst, B., Fitzgerald, D. J., DeLuca, C., Schimmele, K., Sargent, D. F., Richmond, T. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structure+and+mechanism+of+the+chromatin+remodelling+factor+ISW1a.">Structure and mechanism of the chromatin remodelling factor ISW1a.</a> Nature. 472 (7344), 448-453 (2011).</li></ol>

Video snap-shots in Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the entire process from robot-assisted generation from cDNA of multigene expression constructs all the way to infection of insect cell cultures for protein production. New reagents (plasmids and virus) and robust protocols have been developed to enable a pipeline relying on SOPs. The entire pipeline has been implemented as a platform technology at the EMBL in Grenoble. The MultiBac platform has been accessed by many scientists from academia ...

Biological activity is controlled by assemblies of proteins and other biomolecules that act in concert to catalyze cellular functions. Notable examples include the machinery that transcribes the hereditary information contained in DNA into messenger RNA. In humans, more than 100 proteins come together in a defined and regulated process to transcribe genes, forming large multiprotein complexes with 10 and more subunits including RNA polymerase II and the general transcription factors such as TFIID, TFIIH and others.9 Other examples are the ribosome, consisting of many proteins and RNA molecules, that catalyzes protein synthesis, or the nuclear pore complex which is responsible for shuttling biomolecules through the nuclear envelope in eukaryotes. A detailed architectural and biochemical dissection of essentially all multicomponent machines in the cell is vital to understand their function. The structure elucidation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic ribosomes, for instance, constituted hallmark events yielding unprecedented insight into how these macromolecular machines carry out their designated functions in the cell.10,11
Ribosomes can be obtained in sufficient quality and quantity for detailed study by purifying the endogenous material from cultured cells, due to the fact that up to 30% of the cellular mass consists of ribosomes. RNA polymerase II is already less abundant by orders of magnitude, and many thousand liters of yeast culture had to be processed to obtain a detailed atomic view of this essential complex central to transcription.12 The overwhelming majority of the other essential complexes are however present in much lower amounts in native cells, and thus cannot be purified adequately from native source material. To render such complexes accessible to detailed structural and functional analysis requires heterologous production by using recombinant techniques.
Recombinant protein production had a major impact on life science research. Many proteins were produced recombinantly, and their structure and function dissected at high resolution. Structural genomics programs have taken advantage of the elucidation of the genomes of many organisms to address the gene product repertoire of entire organisms in high-throughput (HT) mode. Thousands of protein structures have thus been determined. To date, the most prolifically used system for recombinant protein production has been E. coli, and many expression systems have been developed and refined over the years for heterologous production in this host. The plasmids harboring a plethora of functionalities to enable protein production in E. coli fill entire catalogues of commercial providers.
However, E. coli has certain limitations which make it unsuitable to produce many eukaryotic proteins and in particular protein complexes with many subunits. Therefore, protein production in eukaryotic hosts has become increasingly the method of choice in recent years. A particularly well-suited system to produce eukaryotic proteins is the baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) that relies on a recombinant baculovirus carrying the heterologous genes to infect insect cell cultures cultivated in the laboratory. The MultiBac system is a more recently developed BEVS which is particularly tailored for the production of eukaryotic protein complexes with many subunits (Figure 1). MultiBac was first introduced in 2004.13 Since its introduction, MultiBac has been continuously refined and stream-lined to simplify handling, improve target protein quality and generally making the system accessible to non-specialist users by designing efficient standard operating procedures (SOPs).4 MultiBac has been implemented in many laboratories world-wide, in academia and industry. At the EMBL in Grenoble, transnational access programs were put in place by the European Commission to provide expert training at the MultiBac platform for scientists who wished to use this production system for advancing their research. The structure and function of many protein complexes that were hitherto not accessible was elucidated by using samples produced with MultiBac.4 In the following, the essential steps of MultiBac production are summarized in protocols as they are in operation at the MultiBac facility at EMBL Grenoble.

<table border="1">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Name of Reagent/Material</td>
 <td>Company</td>
 <td>Catalog Number</td>
 <td>Comments</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Bluo-Gal</td>
 <td>Invitrogen</td>
 <td>15519-028 (1 g)</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Tetracycline</td>
 <td>Euromedex</td>
 <td>UT2965-B (25 g)</td>
 <td>1,000X at 10 mg/ml</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Kanamycine</td>
 <td>Euromedex</td>
 <td>EU0420 (25 g)</td>
 <td>1,000X at 50 mg/ml</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Gentamycine</td>
 <td>SIGMA</td>
 <td>G3632 (5 g)</td>
 <td>1,000X at 10 mg/ml</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>IPTG</td>
 <td>Euromedex</td>
 <td>EU0008-B (5 g)</td>
 <td>1,000X at 1M</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Cre-recombinase</td>
 <td>New England BioLabs</td>
 <td>M0298</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>X-Treme GENE HP transfection reagent</td>
 <td>Roche</td>
 <td>06 366 236 001</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Hyclone SFM4 Insect</td>
 <td>Thermo Scientific</td>
 <td>SH 30913.02</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>6-well plate Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>353046</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2 ml pipette Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>357507</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>5 ml pipette Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>357543</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>10 ml pipette Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>357551</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>25 ml pipette Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>357535</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>50 ml pipette Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>357550</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>50 ml tube Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>352070</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>15 ml tube Falcon</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>352096</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1.8 ml cryotube Nunc</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>55005</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>100 ml shaker flasks Pyrex</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>211917</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>250 ml shaker flasks Pyrex</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>211918</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>500 ml shaker flasks Pyrex</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>211919</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2 L shaker flasks Pyrex</td>
 <td>Dominique Dutscher</td>
 <td>211921</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Certomat Orbital Shaker + plateau</td>
 <td>Sartorius</td>
 <td>4445110, 4445233</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Liquid nitrogen tank dewar 35 L</td>
 <td>Fisher Scientific</td>
 <td>M76801</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Biological Safety Cabinet Faster</td>
 <td>Sodipro</td>
 <td>FASV20000606</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Optical Microscope</td>
 <td>Zeiss</td>
 <td>451207</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Sf21 Insect cells</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Hi5 Insect cells</td>
 <td>Invitrogen</td>
 <td>B855-02</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Tecan freedom EVO running Evoware plus</td>
 <td>TECAN</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>10 &mu;l conductive tips (black),</td>
 <td>TECAN</td>
 <td>10 612 516</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>200 &mu;l conductive tips (black)</td>
 <td>TECAN</td>
 <td>10 612 510</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>disposable trough for reagents, 100 ml</td>
 <td>TECAN</td>
 <td>10 613 049</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>twin.tec PCR plate 96, skirted</td>
 <td>Eppendorf</td>
 <td>0030 128.648</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>96 well V bottom, non sterile</td>
 <td>BD falcon</td>
 <td>353263</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>96 deepwell plate color natural, PP)</td>
 <td>Fisher</td>
 <td>M3752M</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>PS microplate, 96 well flat bottom</td>
 <td>Greiner</td>
 <td>655101</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>96 deepwell plate</td>
 <td>Thermo scientific</td>
 <td>AB-0932</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>24 well blocks RB</td>
 <td>Qiagen</td>
 <td>19583</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DpnI restriction enzyme</td>
 <td>NEB</td>
 <td>R0176L</td>
 <td>20 U/uL</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>NEBuffer 4 10X</td>
 <td>NEB</td>
 <td>B7004S</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2X phusion mastermix HF</td>
 <td>Finnzyme</td>
 <td>ref F-531L</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2X phusion mastermix GC</td>
 <td>Finnzyme</td>
 <td>ref F-532L</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DGLB 1.5X</td>
 <td>homemade</td>
 <td></td>
 <td>7.5% glycerol, 0.031% Bromophenol blue, 0.031% Xylen cyanol FF</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>High DNA Mass Ladder for e-gel</td>
 <td>Life Technologies</td>
 <td>10496-016</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Low DNA Mass Ladder for e-gel</td>
 <td>Life Technologies</td>
 <td>10068-013</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>E-gel 48 1% agarose GP</td>
 <td>Life Technologies</td>
 <td>G8008-01</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Nucleo Spin- robot-96 plasmid kit</td>
 <td>Macherey Nagel</td>
 <td>740 708.24</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>PCR clean-up kit, Nucleospin Robot-96 Extract</td>
 <td>Macherey Nagel</td>
 <td>740 707.2</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Gotaq green master mix</td>
 <td>Promega</td>
 <td>M7113</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>T4 DNA polymerase, LIC-qualified</td>
 <td>Novagen</td>
 <td>70099-3</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DTT 100 mM</td>
 <td>homemade</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Urea 2 M</td>
 <td>homemade</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>EDTA 500 mM pH 8.0</td>
 <td>Homemade</td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>LB broth (Miller) 500 g</td>
 <td>Athena ES</td>
 <td>103</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

the multibac protein complex production platform at the embl

Proteomics research revealed the impressive complexity of eukaryotic proteomes in unprecedented detail. It is now a commonly accepted notion that proteins in cells mostly exist not as isolated entities but exert their biological activity in association with many other proteins, in humans ten or more, forming assembly lines in the cell for most if not all vital functions.1,2 Knowledge of the function and architecture of these multiprotein assemblies requires their provision in superior quality and sufficient quantity for detailed analysis. The paucity of many protein complexes in cells, in particular in eukaryotes, prohibits their extraction from native sources, and necessitates recombinant production. The baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) has proven to be particularly useful for producing eukaryotic proteins, the activity of which often relies on post-translational processing that other commonly used expression systems often cannot support.3 BEVS use a recombinant baculovirus into which the gene of interest was inserted to infect insect cell cultures which in turn produce the protein of choice. MultiBac is a BEVS that has been particularly tailored for the production of eukaryotic protein complexes that contain many subunits.4 A vital prerequisite for efficient production of proteins and their complexes are robust protocols for all steps involved in an expression experiment that ideally can be implemented as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and followed also by non-specialist users with comparative ease. The MultiBac platform at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) uses SOPs for all steps involved in a multiprotein complex expression experiment, starting from insertion of the genes into an engineered baculoviral genome optimized for heterologous protein production properties to small-scale analysis of the protein specimens produced.5-8 The platform is installed in an open-access mode at EMBL Grenoble and has supported many scientists from academia and industry to accelerate protein complex research projects.

Strong co-expression of heterologous proteins achieved by the MultiBac system is shown in Figure 1d (probes taken 48 hr after infecting a suspension cell culture). The overexpressed protein bands are clearly discernible in the whole cell extract (SNP) and the cleared lysate (SN). The quality and quantity of the protein material produced is often sufficient to enable structure determination of protein complexes, such as the mitotic checkpoint complex MCC shown in Figure 1e.17</...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL at JoVE.com

The MultiBac Protein Complex Production Platform at the EMBL

Protein complexes catalyze key cellular functions. Detailed functional and structural characterization of many essential complexes requires recombinant production. MultiBac is a baculovirus/insect cell system particularly tailored for expressing eukaryotic proteins and their complexes. MultiBac was implemented as an open-access platform, and standard operating procedures developed to maximize its utility.

Proteomics  research revealed the impressive complexity of eukaryotic proteomes in  unprecedented detail. It is now a commonly accepted notion that ...

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The Logic, Experimental Steps, and Potential of Heterologous Natural Product Biosynthesis Featuring the Complex Antibiotic Erythromycin A Produced Through E. coli

The Logic, Experimental Steps, and Potential of Heterologous Natural Product Biosynthesis Featuring the Complex Antibiotic Erythromycin A Produced Through E. coli

The heterologous production of complex natural products is an approach designed to address current limitations and future possibilities.  It is ...

Protein Isolation from the Developing Embryonic Mouse Heart Valve Region

Western blot analysis is a commonly employed technique for detecting and quantifying protein levels. However, for small tissue samples, this analysis ...

Quantitative Immunofluorescence Assay to Measure the Variation in Protein Levels at Centrosomes

Centrosomes are small but important organelles that serve as the poles of mitotic spindle to maintain genomic integrity or assemble primary cilia to ...

Green Fluorescent Protein-based Expression Screening of Membrane Proteins in Escherichia coli

Green Fluorescent Protein-based Expression Screening of Membrane Proteins in Escherichia coli

The production of recombinant membrane proteins for structural and functional studies remains technically challenging due to low levels of expression and ...

CUBIC Protocol Visualizes Protein Expression at Single Cell Resolution in Whole Mount Skin Preparations

The skin is essential for our survival. The outer epidermal layer consists of the interfollicular epidermis, which is a stratified squamous epithelium ...