Use of adenylate kinase as a solubility tag for high level expression of T4 DNA ligase in Escherichia coli

• Use of Escherichia coli adenylate kinase as a solubility tag to enhance heterologous protein expression and purification.
• AK-T4 fusion protein was expressed at high level in Escherichia coli.
• AK-T4 fusion protein was purified to near homogeneity via two purification steps.
• AK-T4 can use either ADP for DNA ligation since AK converts ADP to ATP and AMP.

The discovery of T4 DNA ligase in 1960s was pivotal in the spread of molecular biotechnology. The enzyme has become ubiquitous for recombinant DNA routinely practiced in biomedical research around the globe. Great efforts have been made to express and purify T4 DNA ligase to meet the world demand, yet over-expression of soluble T4 DNA ligase in E. coli has been difficult. Here we explore the use of adenylate kinase to enhance T4 DNA ligase expression and its downstream purification. E.coli adenylate kinase, which can be expressed in active form at high level, was fused to the N-terminus of T4 DNA ligase. The resulting His-tagged AK-T4 DNA ligase fusion protein was greatly over-expressed in E. coli, and readily purified to near homogeneity via two purification steps consisting of Blue Sepharose and Ni–NTA chromatography. The purified AK-T4 DNA ligase not only is fully active for DNA ligation, but also can use ADP in addition to ATP as energy source since adenylate kinase converts ADP to ATP and AMP. Thus adenylate kinase may be used as a solubility tag to facilitate recombinant protein expression as well as their downstream purification.