Affinity Purification of a Fibrinolytic Enzyme from Sipunculus nudus

Summary

Here, we present an affinity purification method of a fibrinolytic enzyme from Sipunculus nudus that is simple, inexpensive, and efficient.

Abstract

The fibrinolytic enzyme from Sipunculus nudus (sFE) is a novel fibrinolytic agent that can both activate plasminogen into plasmin and degrade fibrin directly, showing great advantages over traditional thrombolytic agents. However, due to the lack of structural information, all the purification programs for sFE are based on multistep chromatography purifications, which are too complicated and costly. Here, an affinity purification protocol of sFE is developed for the first time based on a crystal structure of sFE; it includes preparation of the crude sample and the lysine/arginine-agarose matrix affinity chromatography column, affinity purification, and characterization of the purified sFE. Following this protocol, a batch of sFE can be purified within 1 day. Moreover, the purity and activity of the purified sFE increases to 92% and 19,200 U/mL, respectively. Thus, this is a simple, inexpensive, and efficient approach for sFE purification. The development of this protocol is of great significance for the further utilization of sFE and other similar agents.

Introduction

Thrombosis is a major threat to public health, especially following the Covid-19 global pandemic^1,2. Clinically, many plasminogen activators (PAs), such as tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase (UK), have been widely used as thrombolytic drugs. PAs can activate patients' plasminogen into active plasmin to degrade fibrin. Thus, their thrombolytic efficiency is heavily restricted by the patients' plasminogen status^3,4. Fibrinolytic agents, such as metalloproteinase plasmin and serine plasmin, are another type of clinical thromboly....

Protocol

1. Preparation

1. Sample treatment
   1. Carefully dissect fresh S. nudus (100 g) and collect the intestine and its inner fluid.
   2. Add 300 mL of Tris-HCl buffer (0.02 M, pH 7.4) for homogenization (1,000 rpm, 60 s).
   3. Freeze-thaw the homogenate 3x.
   4. Centrifuge the sample (10,956 × g, 0.5 h, 4 °C) and collect the supernatant. Store the sample at 4 °C until further use.
2. Protein precipitation
   1. Mix .......

Discussion

Due to the unavailability of the exact gene sequence of sFE, the currently used sFE was extracted from fresh S. nudus¹⁴. Moreover, the purification procedures of sFE reported in the literature were complicated and costly, as they were based on some general features of sFE, such as molecular weight, isoelectric point, ionic strength, and polarity^15,16. No affinity purification protocol of sFE has been reported to date. In this stud.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
30% Acrylamide-Bisacrylamide (29:1)	Biosharp
2-Mercaptoethanol	Solarbio
Agarose G-10	Biowest
Ammonium persulfate	SINOPHARM
Ammonium sulfate	SINOPHARM
Arginine-Sepharose 4B	Solarbio	Arginine-agarose matrix
Bromoxylenol Blue (BPB)	Solarbio
Fast Silver Stain Kit	Beyotime
Fibrinogen	Merck
Glycine	Solarbio
Hydrochloric acid	SINOPHARM
Kinase	RHAWN
Lysine-Sepharose 4B	Solarbio	Lysine-agarose matrix
N,N,N',N'-Tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED)	Sigma-Aldrich
Prestained Color Protein Marker (10-170 kD)	Beyotime
Sodium chloride	SINOPHARM
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfonate (SDS)	Sigma-Aldrich
Sodium hydroxide	SINOPHARM
Thrombin	Meilunbio
Tris(Hydroxymethyl) Aminomethane	Solarbio
Tris(Hydroxymethyl) Aminomethane Hydrochloride	Solarbio
Equipment
AKT Aprotein Purification System pure	GE
Automatic Vertical Pressure Steam Sterilizer MLS-3750	SANYO
Chemiluminescence Imaging System	GE
Constant Flow Pump BT-100	QITE
Constant Temperature Incubator	JINGHONG
Desktop Refrigerated Centrifuge 3-30KS	SIGMA
DHG Series Heating and Drying Oven DGG-9140AD	SENXIN
Electric Glass Homogenizer DY89-II	SCIENTZ
Electronic Analytical Balance	DENVER
Electro-Thermostatic Water Bath DK-S12	SENXIN
Horizontal Decolorization Shaker	Kylin-Bell
Ice Machine AF 103	Scotsman
KQ-500E Ultrasonic Cleaner	ShuMei
Magnetic Stirrer	Zhi wei
Micro Refrigerated Centrifuge H1650-W	Cence
Microwave Oven	Galanz
Milli-Q Reference	Millipore
Pipettor	Thermo Fisher Scientific
Precision Desktop pH Meter	Sartorious
Small-sized Vortex Oscillator	Kylin-Bell
Vertical Electrophoresis System	Bio-Rad
Consumable Material
200 µL PCR Tube (200 µL)	Axygene
Centrifuge Tube (1.5 mL)	Biosharp
Centrifuge Tube (5 mL)	Biosharp
Centrifuge Tube (50 mL)	NEST
Centrifuge Tube (7 mL)	Biosharp
Culture Dish (60 mm)	NEST
Filter Membrane (0.22 µm)	Millex GP
Parafilm	Bemis
Pipette Tip (1 mL )	KIRGEN
Pipette Tip (10 µL)	Axygene
Pipette Tip (200 µL)	Axygene
Special Indicator Paper	TZAKZY
Ultra Centrifugal Filter Unit (15 mL 3 KDa)	Millipore
Ultra Centrifugal Filter Unit (4 mL 3 KDa)	Millipore
Universal pH Indicator	SSS Reagent