Mj. Loessner et al., MODIFIED LISTERIA BACTERIOPHAGE LYSIN GENES (PLY) ALLOW EFFICIENT OVEREXPRESSION AND ONE-STEP PURIFICATION OF BIOCHEMICALLY ACTIVE FUSION PROTEINS, Applied and environmental microbiology, 62(8), 1996, pp. 3057-3060
Listeria bacteriophage lytic enzymes are useful for in vitro applicati
ons such as rapid, gentle cell disruption, and they provide new approa
ches as selective antimicrobial agents for destruction of listeria mon
ocytogenes in contaminated foods. We describe here the amino-terminal
modification of three cloned Listeria phage lysin genes (ply), resulti
ng in fusion proteins with a 12-amino-acid leader containing six conse
cutive histidine residues. The recombinant enzymes retain their native
specific activity and can be efficiently overproduced in Escherichia
coli. By one-step metal chelate affinity chromatography, active lysins
could be purified to more than 90% homogeneity.