High-yield recombinant bacterial expression of C-, N-labeled, serine-16 phosphorylated, murine amelogenin using a modified third generation genetic code expansion protocol.

Amelogenin constitutes ~90% of the enamel matrix in the secretory stage of amelogenesis, a still poorly understood process that results in the formation of the hardest and most mineralized tissue in vertebrates-enamel. Most biophysical research with amelogenin uses recombinant protein expressed in Escherichia coli. In addition to providing copious amounts of protein, recombinant expression allows C- and N-labeling for detailed structural studies using NMR spectroscopy. However, native amelogenin is phosphorylated at one position, Ser-16 in murine amelogenin, and there is mounting evidence that Ser-16 phosphorylation is important. Using a modified genetic code expansion protocol we have expressed and purified uniformly C-, N-labeled murine amelogenin (pS16M179) with ~95% of the protein being correctly phosphorylated. Homogeneous phosphorylation was achieved using commercially available, enriched, C-, N-labeled media, and protein expression was induced with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside at 310 K. Phosphoserine incorporation was verified from one-dimensional P NMR spectra, comparison of H- N HSQC spectra, Phos-tag SDS PAGE, and mass spectrometry. Phosphorus-31 NMR spectra for pS16M179 under conditions known to trigger amelogenin self-assembly into nanospheres confirm nanosphere models with buried N-termini. Lambda phosphatase treatment of these nanospheres results in the dephosphorylation of pS16M179, confirming that smaller oligomers and monomers with exposed N-termini are in equilibrium with nanospheres. Such C-, N-labeling of amelogenin with accurately encoded phosphoserine incorporation will accelerate biomineralization research to understand amelogenesis and stimulate the expanded use of genetic code expansion protocols to introduce phosphorylated amino acids into proteins.