Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Applied Sciences, UCSI University, No. 1, Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, 56000, Malaysia. kelvinlew86213@yahoo.com
  • 2 Faculty of Applied Sciences, UCSI University, No. 1, Jalan Menara Gading, UCSI Heights, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, 56000, Malaysia. reneelim@ucsiuniversity.edu.my
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 2016 Jan;100(2):661-71.
PMID: 26411458 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-015-6953-y

Abstract

Current diagnostic tools for peanut allergy using crude peanut extract showed low predictive value and reduced specificity for detection of peanut allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE). The Ara h 2.02, an isoform of the major peanut allergen Ara h 2, contains three IgE epitope recognition sequence of 'DPYSPS' and may be a better reagent for component resolve diagnosis. This research aimed to generate a codon-optimised Ara h 2.02 gene for heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and allergenicity study of this recombinant protein. The codon-optimised gene was generated by PCR using overlapping primers and cloned into the pET-28a (+) expression vector. Moderate expression of a 22.5 kDa 6xhistidine-tagged recombinant Ara h 2.02 protein (6xHis-rAra h 2.02) in BL21 (DE3) host cells was observed upon induction with 1 mM isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The insoluble recombinant protein was purified under denaturing condition using nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity chromatography and refolded by dialysis in decreasing urea concentration, amounting to a yield of 74 mg/l of expression culture. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and immunoblot analysis confirmed the production of the recombinant 6xHis-rAra h 2.02. The refolded recombinant 6xHis-rAra h 2.02, with or without adjuvant, was able to elicit comparable level of allergen-specific IgE and IgG1 in sensitised Balb/c mice. In addition, the specific IgE antibodies raised against the recombinant protein were able to recognise the native Ara h 2 protein, demonstrating its allergenicity and potential as a reagent for diagnosis and therapeutic study.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.