Stress-Governed Expression and Purification of Human Type II Hexokinase in Escherichia coli

The full encoding sequence for human type II hexokinase (HXK II) was cloned into the E. coli expression vector pET 21b and expressed as a C-terminally hexahistidine-tagged protein in the BL2l (DE3) strain. The IPTG-induced HXK II approximately accounted for 17% of the total E. coli proteins, and 81% of HXK $II_{6{\times}His}$ existed in inclusion bodies. To improve the production of soluble recombinant HXK II protein, in the functionally active form, we used low temperature, and the osmotic stress expression method. When expressed at $18^{\circ}C$, about 83% of HXK $II_{6{\times}His}$ existed in the soluble fraction, which amounted to a 4.1-fold yield over that expressed at $37^{\circ}C$. The soluble form of HXK $II_{6{\times}His}$ was also highly produced in the presence of 1M sorbitol under the standard condition $(37^{\circ}C)$, which indicated that temperature downshift and low water potentials were required to improve the yield of active recombinant HXK II protein. The expressed protein was purified by metal chelate affinity chromatography performed in an IDA Excellose column charged with $Ni^{2+}$ ions, resulting in about 40mg recombinant HXK II protein obtained with purity over 89% from 51 of E. coli culture. The identity of HXK $II_{6{\times}His}$ was confirmed by Western blotting analysis. Taken together, using the stress-governed expression described in this study, human active HXK II can be purified in sufficient amounts for biochemical and biomedical studies.