Patent Publication Number: US-11041163-B2

Title: Production of in vivo N-deglycosylated recombinant proteins by co-expression with endo H

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This document relates to materials and methods for producing recombinant proteins of interest in plants in a non-N-glycosylated form. A strategy was developed for production of target proteins in plants in non-N-glycosylated form, but with no amino acid change in the NxS/T site of the resulting deglycosylated proteins, which can provide production of non-N-glycosylated recombinant proteins in plants or other eukaryotic expression systems with a native-like fold. Materials and methods for in vivo de-glycosylation of recombinant N-glycosylated proteins by co-expression with Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H (Endo H) in plants, using a transient expression system are described. A method of expressing active Endo H in plants also is provided. 
     Replacement Sequence Listing entitled “Sequence_Listing.txt” (date of creation: May 9, 2018, size: 5.196 KB) is incorporated herein by reference. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Plants have emerged as an alternative expression system and are increasingly being used by industry and academia for producing target proteins. However, the ability of plants to glycosylate proteins can be a significant limitation for those proteins, which do not require N-glycosylation. For example,  Plasmodium falciparum  proteins, or A chain of human factor XIII do not carry N-linked glycans, or the protective antigen (PA) of  Bacillus anthracis  is not a glycoprotein; however, these proteins contain potential N-linked glycosylation sites that can be aberrantly glycosylated during expression in yeast, mammalian, or plant systems, potentially leading to reduced functionality and immunogenicity because of incorrect/altered folding and/or masking of epitopes. To overcome this problem we have recently developed a strategy of enzymatic deglycosylation of proteins in vivo by co-expressing with bacterial PNGase F (Peptide: N-glycosidase F) using transient expression in plants (WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/170678), which allowed production of malaria vaccine candidate Pfs48/45, which can provide a high transmission blocking (TB) activity (Mamedov et al., 2012). In addition, other deglycosylated antigens induced significantly higher levels of toxin-neutralizing antibody responses in mice than compared with glycosylated forms (Mamedov et al, manuscript has been submitted). Although a PNGase F treatment (in vivo deglycosylation) removes the oligosaccharide intact, but causes amino acid change in the deglycosylated protein due to deamidation of the asparagine (N) in the NxS/T site (sequence) into an aspartate (D). In this study, a strategy was developed for production of target proteins in plants in non-N-glycosylated form, but with no amino acid change in the NxS/T site of the resulting deglycosylated proteins, which can provide production of non-N-glycosylated recombinant proteins in plants or other eukaryotic system with a native-like fold. Thus, materials and methods for in vivo de-glycosylation of recombinant N-glycosylated proteins by co-expression with Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H (Endo H) in plants, using a transient expression system are described in this invention. A method of expressing active Endo H in plants is also provided. 
     BACKGROUND 
     N-glycosylation is a critical PTM for the correct folding and stability of many proteins, and the biological activity of many recombinant proteins produced in heterologous expression systems is dependent on their glycosylation status. However, some eukaryotic as well as bacterial proteins contain no N-glycans in the native host, but contain multiple potential N-glycosylation sites that can be aberrantly glycosylated when these proteins are expressed in heterologous eukaryotic expression systems, potentially leading to reduced functionality and immunogenicity due to incorrect/altered folding or masking of epitopes. For example, the Pfs48/45 protein of  Plasmodium falciparum  or A chain of human factor XIII do not carry N-linked glycans, and the protective antigen (PA) of  Bacillus  anthracisis not a glycoprotein; however, these proteins contain potential N-linked glycosylation sites that can be aberrantly glycosylated during expression in yeast, mammalian, or plant systems. Plants have emerged as an alternative expression system and are increasingly being used by industry and academia for producing target proteins. However, the ability of plants to glycosylate proteins also can be a significant limitation on the usefulness of plant-based expression systems. In our previous study, we have developed a strategy of enzymatic deglycosylation of proteins in vivo by co-expressing with bacterial PNGase F (Peptide: N-glycosidase F) using transient expression in plants (WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/170678). Using in vivo deglycosylation strategy, Pfs48/45 protein was produced in  N. benthamiana  in a non-N-glycosylated form and four mAbs, produced against different epitopes of Pfs48/45 protein, two of them conformation-specific, recognized the deglycosylated form of Pfs48/45 2- to 6-fold better than they recognized the glycosylated form of the same protein (Mamedov et al., 2012). In addition, the strongest binding to and the maximum mAb Ill signal inhibition were observed with in vivo PNGase F-deglycosylated Pfs48/45 only, while the in vitro deglycosylated, glycosylated (Mamedov et al., 2011) of Pfs48/45 were equivalent in their ability to inhibit the mAb Ill signal. In addition, this was tested also with other targets and results showed that only in vivo deglycoslated form had much more strong binding to antibodies, compared to in vitro deglycosylated and glycosylated forms, suggesting that aberrant glycosylation might have led to masking of important epitopes or caused incorrect/altered folding of the Pfs48/45 protein (Mamedov at al., 2012). 
     Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H (Endo H, EC3.2.1.96) is a glycohydrolase that is secreted by  Streptomyces plicatus  and a few other  Streptomyces  species (Tarentino et al., 1976). It cleaves the β-1, 4-glycosidic bond of the N-acetyl glucosamine core of oligosaccharides and leaves one N-acetylchitobiose attached to the asparagine residue of the glycoprotein (Trimble et al., 1978; Muramatsu 1971). The Endo H gene of  S. plicatus  is 939 bp (GenBank accession AAA26738.1) encodes a 28.9-kDa protein. Endo H from  Streptomyces plicatus  was recently expressed in  Pichia pastoris  and deglycosylated activity of  P. pastoris  produced Endo H was demonstrated in vitro, through both co-fermentation and post-fermentation treatments (Wang et al., 2015). However, N-deglycosylation of proteins in vivo condition by Endo H enzyme has not been achieved. In this study, in vivo de-glycosylation of recombinant N-glycosylated proteins by co-expression with Endo H in plants, using a transient expression system are described and presented. 
     OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
     In our previous study, we have demonstrated deglycosylation of target protein in vivo by co expression target proteins with bacterial PNGase F (Mamedov T. WO/2012/170678, 2012; Mamedov et al., 2012). Although deglycosylation by PNGase F (in vivo or in vitro) removes the oligosaccharide intact, but causes amino acid change in the deglycosylated protein due to deamidation of the asparagine (N) in the NxS/T site (sequence) into an aspartate (D). At this point, other deglycosylating enzymes such as Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase H (Endo H) that catalyze cleavage between two GlcNAc residues of the chitobiose core of N-linked glycans, leaving single GlcNAc residue attached to asparagines ( FIG. 1 ), and opposite to PNGase F, deglycosylation by Endo H result in no change to the amino acid sequence in the NxS/T site of the resulting deglycosylated proteins. Since Endo H treatment produces no amino acid change in the resulting deglycosylated proteins, I hypothesized that deglycosylated proteins produced by Endo H may have more native-like folding, therefore better functional activity (immunogenicity, receptor binding, protein-antibody interaction, enzyme activity etc) compared with PNGase F deglycosylated form of the same protein. I also hypothesized that since Endo H cleavage leaving one GlcNAc residue attached to asparagines, the remaining monosacharide imparts a charge, thereby may increase the solubility and stability of deglycosylated proteins. 
     Industrial Application of the Invention 
     As described above, a PNGase F treatment (in vivo deglycosylation) removes the oligosaccharide intact, but causes amino acid change in the deglycosylated protein due to deamidation of the asparagine in the NxS/T site (sequence) into an aspartate. Endo H treatment results in no amino acid change in the NxS/T site of the resulting deglycosylated proteins. At this point it was hypothesized that deglycosylated proteins produced by Endo H may have more native-like folding, therefore better functional activity (immunogenicity, receptor binding, protein-antibody interaction, enzyme activity etc.) compared with PNGase F treated form of the same proteins. It was also hypothesized that since Endo H cleavage leaving one GlcNAc residue attached to asparagines, the remaining monosacharide imparts a charge, thereby may increase the solubility and stability of deglycosylated proteins. In this study, I demonstrate for the first time the expression of a deglycosylating bacterial enzyme Endo H in plants. I also demonstrate for the first time the deglycosylation of target proteins by Endo H in vivo in  N. benthamiana  plant. We demonstrate that the recombinant plant-produced Endo H is fully active in vivo and successfully cleaves N-linked glycans from PA83 and Pfs48/45 proteins. In addition, co-expression of PA83 with Endo H led to the accumulation of PA83 that was similar in size to that of the in vivo deglycosylated molecule by bacterial PNGase F. Importantly, results of our preliminary stability analyses demonstrate that Endo H in vivo deglycosylated PA83 appears to be more stable compared with glycosylated or PNGase F deglycosylated (in vivo) form of the same protein, especially at elevated temperature. In conclusion, all these results suggest that the Endo H co-expression strategy can be used to produce non-glycosylated recombinant proteins in the  N. benthamiana -based transient expression system in native-like forms. In addition, the results of this study reveal the potential of Endo H deglycosylated PA83 as an anthrax and Pfs48/45 vaccine and support its further characterization for pre-clinical development. These results demonstrate that Endo H successfully cleaves N-linked glycans from all tested glycoproteins and suggest that the Endo H co-expression strategy can be used to produce non-glycosylated vaccine antigens, therapeutic proteins, antibodies and bacterial proteins (especially vaccine antigen candidates) enzymes. 
     In addition, this invention can be used for production of industrial enzymes, especially bacterial origin enzymes, in any eukaryotic system for increasing bioenergy/biofuel yield, as well as improving food quality, especially for producing native additives. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  shows Endo H cleaves between the two N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) residues in the diacetylchitobiose core of the oligosaccharide, generating a truncated sugar molecule with one GlcNAc remaining on the asparagines (Asn).  FIG. 1B  shows Peptide-N-Glycosidase F (PNGase F), is an amidase that cleaves between the innermost GlcNAc and asparagine residues of high mannose, hybrid, and complex oligosaccharides from N-linked glycoproteins; □: N GlcNAc; ◯: mannose. 
         FIG. 2  shows the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of Endo H that were expressed in  N. benthamiana  as described herein.  FIG. 2A  shows bacterial Endo H gene nucleotide sequence, which was codon optimized using  N. benthamiana  codons.  FIG. 2B  shows amino acid sequence of Endo H expressed in  N. benthamiana  plant. PR-1a signal peptide sequence (MGFVLFSQLPSFLLVSTLLLFLVISHSCRA) (SEQ ID NO: 3) was added to the N-terminus is underlined. FLAG epitope (the affinity purification tag) followed by KDEL (SEQ ID NO: 5) (the ER retention signal) sequence (in bold) were added to the C-terminus. 
         FIG. 3  shows western blot analysis of Endo H in  N. benthamiana  plants.  N. benthamiana  plants, which were infiltrated with pGR-M-Endo H or pGR-M-PNGase F constructs, to produce Endo H and PNGase F. Leaf samples were taken at 5 dpi and were homogenized in three volumes of extraction buffer. After centrifugation at 13,000 g, samples were run on SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting. Endo H and PNGase F were detected using polyclonal rabbit anti-flag tag (Cell signaling, cat no. 2368) antibody. Anti-rabbit IgG, HRP-linked antibody (Cell signaling, cat no. 7074) was used as a secondary antibody. 1- N. benthamiana  plant expressing PNGase F (35 kDa); 2- N. benthamiana  plant expressing Endo H ( ˜ 30 kDa). 
         FIG. 4A  shows that  benthamiana  plants leaves infiltrated with pGR-M-PNGase F/pGR-M-PA83 (1,2) or pGR-M-Endo H/pGR-M-PA83 (3-5), as indicated, were analyzed by western blot using polyclonal rabbit anti-flag tag (Cell signaling, cat no. 2368) antibody to detect PNGase F or Endo H. A: 6-non infiltrated  N. benthamiana  plant.  FIG. 4B  shows western blot analysis of  N. benthamiana  plant infiltrated with pGR-M-PNGase F/pGR-M-PA83 (1,2) or pGR-M-Endo H/pGR-M-PA83 (3-5). To detect PA83 protein, anti-PA antibody (anti- Bacillus anthracis  protective antigen antibody, BAP0101, cat. no. ab1988, Abcam) was used. 
         FIG. 5  depicts a western blot analysis of co-expression of  Bacillus anthracis  PA with bacterial PNGase F and Endo H as indicated in  N. benthamiana  plants.  N. benthamiana  plants were infiltrated with pGR-M-PNGase/pGR-M-PA83 or pGR-M-Endo H/pGR-M-PA83 constructs, for the production of deglycosylated PA83. Leaf samples were taken at 5 dpi and were homogenized in three volumes of extraction buffer. After centrifugation at 13 000 g, samples were diluted 10-fold in the SDS sample buffer. 10 microlitre of samples were run on SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting. PA83 bands were probed using the anti-PA antibody (anti- Bacillus anthracis  protective antigen antibody, BAP0101, cat. no. ab1988, Abcam) or anti-His tag antibody (Penta His Antibody, BSA-free, cat no. 34660), QIAGEN) as indicated. PA83 were expressed alone (−) or with PNGase F (+) or Endo H (+). 
         FIG. 6  depicts a western blot analysis of co-expression of Pfs48/45 protein of  Plasmodium falciparum  with bacterial Endo in  N. benthamiana  plants.  N. benthamiana  plants were infiltrated with pGR-M-Endo H or pGR-M-Endo H/pGR-M-PA83 constructs, as indicated, for the production of deglycosylated PA83. Leaf samples were taken at 7 dpi and were homogenized in three volumes of extraction buffer. After centrifugation at 13,000 g, samples were diluted 10-fold in the SDS sample buffer. 10 microlitre of samples were run on SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting. Pfs48/45 and Endo H bands were probed using the anti-FLAG polyclonal antibody (Cell signaling, cat no. 2368) antibody. 
         FIG. 7A ,  FIG. 7B , and  FIG. 7C  depict a SDS-PAGE (A, B) and WB analysis (C) of deglycosylated forms of PA83, purified using HisPur™ Ni-NTA Resin.  FIG. 7A  shows SDS-PAGE analysis of deglycosylated PA83 proteins produced by co expression of Endo H and PNGase F, respectively.  FIG. 7B  shows SDS-PAGE Coomassie Blue staining of proteins incubated at 4° C. for 48 h.  FIG. 7C  shows a western blot analysis of deglycosylated PA83 proteins incubated at 37° C. for 1 h and 4° C. for 48 h, as indicated. 
     
    
    
     EXAMPLES 
     Example 1—Materials and Methods 
     Cloning and Expression of Endo H in  N. benthamiana.    
     The Endo H gene (GenBank accession AAA26738.1) was optimized for expression in  N. benthamiana  plants and synthesized by GENEART AG (Thermo Fisher Scientific). To transiently express Endo H in  N. benthamiana  plants, the signal peptide (amino acids 1-42) was removed from the Endo H sequence, and  Nicotiana tabacum  PR-1a signal peptide (MGFVLFSQLPSFLLVSTLLLFLVISHSCRA) (SEQ ID NO: 3) was added to the N-terminus. In addition, the KDEL (SEQ ID NO: 5) sequence (the ER retention signal) and the FLAG epitope (the affinity purification tag) were added to the C-terminus. The resulting sequence was inserted into the modified pGreen II (pGR-M) or pBI121 (Chen et al., 2003) binary expression vectors to obtain pGR-M-Endo H F and pBI-Endo H, respectively. 
     Cloning and Expression of PNGase F, PA83 and Pfs48/45 in  N. Benthamiana.    
     The sequences of PNGase F (Mamedov et al., 2012) and  B. anthracis  PA (amino acids 30-764, GenBank accession number AAA22637, Mamedov et al., 2012) were optimized for expression in  N. benthamiana  plants and synthesized from oligonucleotides for a 942 bp PNGase F gene and a 2205 bp PA gene using the Gene2Oligo (Rouillard et al., 2004; Mamedov et al., 2007) computer program. The sequences of Pfs48/45 (amino acids 28-401, GenBank accession number EU366251) was optimized for expression in  N. benthamiana  plants and synthesized by GENEART AG (Thermo Fisher Scientific). PR-1a signal peptide (MGFVLFSQLPSFLLVSTLLLFLVISHSCRA) (SEQ ID NO: 3) was added to the N-terminus of all genes. In addition, the KDEL sequence (SEQ ID NO: 5) (the ER retention signal) and the FLAG epitope (for Endo H and PNGase F, the affinity purification tag) or His tag (for PA83) were added to the C-terminus. The resulting sequences were inserted into the binary expression vectors pGR-M or pBI121 (Chen et al., 2003). pGreen 11, pSoup plasmids were obtained from John Innes Centre (Norwich). All plasmids along with pSoup and p19 were then introduced into the  Agrobacterium tumefaciens  strain AGL1 or GV3101. The resulting bacterial strain was grown in BBL medium (10 g/L soy hydrolysate, 5 g/L yeast extract, 5 g/L NaCl, and 50 mg/L kanamaycin) overnight at 28° C. Bacteria were introduced by manual infiltration into 6-week-old  N. benthamiana  plants grown in soil. Four, five, six and seven days after infiltration, leaf tissue was harvested and homogenized using a mortar and pestle. AGL1 or GV3101  Agrobacterium  strains and P19 plasmid was kindly provided by Professor Sophien Kamoun (The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, UK). A wild type  Nicotiana benthamiana  was grown on soil in a greenhouse of Akdeniz University. 
     SDS-PAGE and Western Blot Analysis. 
     SDS-PAGE analysis of plant produced PA83 samples was performed on 10% acrylamide gels stained with Coomassie (Gel Code Blue, Pierce Rockford, Ill.). Western blot analysis was performed after electrophoresis and transfer of the proteins to Polyvinylidene Fluoride membranes. After transfer, Western blot membranes were blocked with I-Block (Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, Calif.) and recombinant proteins detected with an anti-4×His (Qiagen, Valencia, Calif.) mAb or anti- Bacillus anthracis  protective antigen antibody [BAP0101] (ab1988). The membranes were then washed with 1×PBS containing 0.1% Tween 20 (PBS-T) to remove an excess primary antibody and labeled with an anti-mouse horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated secondary antibody (ab98790) or anti-rabbit horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated secondary antibody (ab97051). Signal generation was achieved with a chemiluminescent substrate (SuperSignal West Pico, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Grand Island, N.Y.); the membrane was incubated with 5 ml of SuperSignal West Pico Chemiluminescent Substrate for 5 minutes wrapped in plastic then espoused to Kodak x-ray film for different times. The film was developed and fixed the dark room using Kodak® developer and rapid fixer solutions respectively. 
     Example 2—Cloning and Expression of Bacterial Endo H Gene in  N. benthamiana    
     The bacterial Endo H gene sequence (GenBank: AAA26738.1) encompassing 313 amino acids (the full length of the catalytically active protein without a signal sequence, 1-42 aa) was optimized for the expression in  N. benthamiana  plants ( FIG. 2 ), cloned into the pGR-M vector and expressed in  N. benthamiana  plants as described in Experimental procedures. In addition, to compare in vivo deglycosylation by Endo H versus PNGase F, the bacterial PNGase F gene sequence encompassing 314 amino acids was optimized for the expression in  N. benthamiana  plants, and expressed as described previously (Mamedov et al., 2012). The expression of Endo Hand PNGase F in  N. benthamiana  was confirmed by the Western blot analysis using an anti-FLAG monoclonal antibody (mAb) ( FIG. 3 ). As shown in  FIG. 3  PNGase F migrates at  ˜ 35 kDa in SDS-PAGE (followed by western blot), which. Endo H migrates, with  ˜ 25 kDa, faster than PNGase F protein. It should be noted that,  N. benthamiana  plants expressing Endo H and PNGase F remained healthy at 7, 8 and 9 days post-infiltration (dpi) ( FIG. 4 ) with no visible symptom development or change in growth when co-expression of target reached the highest level. 
     Example 3—De-Glycosylation Ability of Endo H; In Vivo Deglycosylation of Recombinant  B. anthracis  PA in  N. benthamiana  Plants by Co-Expressing Endo H 
     To evaluate in vivo cleavage of N-linked oligosaccharides decorating PA83, Endo H and PA83 was transiently co-expressed in  N. benthamiana  plants via co-agroinfiltration. As a reference, bacterial PNGase F was also transiently co-expressed in  N. benthamiana  plants via co-agroinfiltration. It should be noted that PA of  B. anthracis  is not a glycoprotein, but it is glycosylated when expressed in  N. benthamiana  plants. The Western blot analysis performed at 5 dpi demonstrated a shift in the mobility of PA83 co-expressed with Endo H ( FIG. 5 ), indicating protein deglycosylation. In addition, as shown by SDS-PAGE and the Western blot analysis, co-expression with Endo H led to the accumulation of PA83 that was similar in size to that of the in vivo deglycosylated molecule by bacterial PNGase F (Mamedov et al., 2012) suggesting that PA83 was enzymatically deglycosylated ( FIG. 5 ). 
     Example 4—De-Glycosylation Ability of Endo H; In Vivo Deglycosylation of Pfs48/45 in  N. benthamiana  Plants by Co-Expressing Endo H 
     Pfs48/45 is one of the leading candidates for transmission-blocking (TB) vaccine development. To evaluate in vivo cleavage of N-linked oligosaccharides decorating Pfs48/45, bacterial Endo H and Pfs48/45 protein of  Plasmodium falciparum  were transiently co-expressed in  N. benthamiana  plants via co-agroinfiltration with pGR-M-Pfs48/45 and pGR-M-Endo H constructs. As shown by SDS-PAGE and the Western blot analysis, co-expression with Endo H led to the accumulation of Pfs48/45 with molecular mass about  ˜ 60 kDa, which is similar in size to that of the in vitro deglycosylated molecule by PNGase F (see  FIG. 4 , Mamedov et al., 2012), indicating that Pfs48/45 was enzymatically deglycosylated ( FIG. 5 ). These results, demonstrate that Endo H successfully cleaved N-linked glycans from PA83 and Pfs48/45 proteins and plant produced Endo H is enzymatically active in vivo, and suggest that the Endo H co-expression strategy can be used to produce therapeutic proteins in a non-glycosylated form in the  N. benthamiana -based transient expression system. 
     Example 5—Purification of Deglycosylated PA83 Proteins Using HisPur™ Ni-NTA Resin and Preliminary Stability Analysis of Deglycosylated PA Protein 
     Endo H and PNGase F co-expressed and deglycosylated forms of PA83 were purified using HisPur™ Ni-NTA Resin (ThermoFisher scientific, Cat. No. 8822). As shown by SDS-PAGE and Coomassie staining ( FIG. 5A ), the purified PA83 proteins were highly homogeneous. In addition, as shown by SDS-PAGE and ( FIG. 5A ) and the Western blot analysis, co-expression with Endo H led to the accumulation of PA83 that was similar in size to that of the in vivo deglycosylated molecule by bacterial PNGase F. To assess the affect of deglycosylation by Endo H and PNGase F on protein properties, deglycosylated forms of PA83 proteins were undergone a preliminary stability test of different forms of PA83, in the form 37° C. and 4° C. treatment and found that, Endo H in vivo deglycosylated PA83 appears to be slightly more stable compare with PNGase F glycosylated form, especially at elevated (37° C.) temperature. 
     Example 6—Binding of Anti-PA Monoclonal Antibody to Glycosylated, Endo H or PNGase F In Vivo Deglycosylated PA83 Variants 
     Binding of anti-PA monoclonal antibody to glycosylated, Endo H or PNGase F in vivo deglycosylated PA83 variants were performed using IMAC purified PA83 antigens and  Bacillus anthracis  Protective Antigen Antibody (MA1-21675). Anti-PA antibody (anti- Bacillus anthracis  protective antigen antibody, BAP0101, cat. no. ab1988, Abcam) showed similar binding to plant produced glycosylated and Endo H or PNGase F in vivo deglycosylated PA83 proteins (data not shown). 
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