Production, in Pichia pastoris, of a recombinant monomeric mapacalcine, a protein with anti-ischemic properties

• Mapacalcine is a homodimeric protein extracted from the Cliona vastifica sponge.
• Mapacalcine significantly increases cell survival after ischemia/reperfusion.
• We expressed a recombinant mapacalcine in the yeast Pichia pastoris.
• The expressed protein retains the biological properties of the natural mapacalcine.

Mapacalcine is a small homodimeric protein of 19 kDa with 9 disulfide bridges extracted from the Cliona vastifica sponge (Red Sea). It selectively blocks a calcium current insensitive to most calcium blockers. Specific receptors for mapacalcine have been described in a variety of tissues such as brain, smooth muscle, liver, and kidney. Previous works achieved on hepatocytes and nervous cells demonstrated that this protein selectively blocks a calcium influx triggered by an ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) shock and efficiently protects cells from death after I/R. The aim of this work was to produce the recombinant mapacalcine in the yeast Pichia pastoris. Mass spectrometry, light scattering analysis and biological characterization demonstrated that the recombinant mapacalcine obtained was a monomeric form with 4 disulfide bridges which retains the biological activity of the natural protein.