Overproduction of Human Zip (SLC39) Zinc Transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Biophysical Characterization
1
Membrane Protein Structural Biology Group, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Maersk Tower 7-9, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
2
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 13, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark
3
Department of Experimental Medical Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 19, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cells 2021, 10(2), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10020213
Received: 29 December 2020 / Revised: 18 January 2021 / Accepted: 19 January 2021 / Published: 21 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Cells—Advances in Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology)
Zinc constitutes the second most abundant transition metal in the human body, and it is implicated in numerous cellular processes, including cell division, DNA and protein synthesis as well as for the catalytic activity of many enzymes. Two major membrane protein families facilitate zinc homeostasis in the animal kingdom, i.e., Zrt/Irt-like proteins (ZIPs aka solute carrier 39, SLC39, family) and Zn transporters (ZnTs), essentially conducting zinc flux in the opposite directions. Human ZIPs (hZIPs) regulate import of extracellular zinc to the cytosol, being critical in preventing overaccumulation of this potentially toxic metal, and crucial for diverse physiological and pathological processes, including development of neurodegenerative disorders and several cancers. To date, our understanding of structure–function relationships governing hZIP-mediated zinc transport mechanism is scarce, mainly due to the notorious difficulty in overproduction of these proteins for biophysical characterization. Here we describe employment of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based platform for heterologous expression of hZIPs. We demonstrate that yeast is able to produce four full-length hZIP members belonging to three different subfamilies. One target (hZIP1) is purified in the high quantity and homogeneity required for the downstream biochemical analysis. Our work demonstrates the potential of the described production system for future structural and functional studies of hZIP transporters.
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Keywords:
membrane proteins; overproduction; production platform; protein purification; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; solute carrier 39; SLC39; family; yeast; zinc; zinc transporters; ZIPs
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MDPI and ACS Style
Becares, E.R.; Pedersen, P.A.; Gourdon, P.; Gotfryd, K. Overproduction of Human Zip (SLC39) Zinc Transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Biophysical Characterization. Cells 2021, 10, 213. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10020213
AMA Style
Becares ER, Pedersen PA, Gourdon P, Gotfryd K. Overproduction of Human Zip (SLC39) Zinc Transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Biophysical Characterization. Cells. 2021; 10(2):213. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10020213
Chicago/Turabian StyleBecares, Eva R.; Pedersen, Per A.; Gourdon, Pontus; Gotfryd, Kamil. 2021. "Overproduction of Human Zip (SLC39) Zinc Transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for Biophysical Characterization" Cells 10, no. 2: 213. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10020213
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