THE COMPLETE MATURE BOVINE PRION PROTEIN HIGHLY EXPRESSED IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI - BIOCHEMICAL AND STRUCTURAL STUDIES

According to the 'protein only' hypothesis, modification of the 3-dime nsional fold of the constituent cellular protein, PrPC, into the disea se-associated isoform, PrPSc, is the cause of neurodegenerative diseas es in animals and humans, Here we describe the high-level synthesis in Escherichia coli, and purification in the monomeric form, of a histid ine-tagged full-length mature PrP (25-249) of bovine brain, termed His -PrP, Based on biochemical and spectroscopic data, His-PrP displays ch aracteristics expected for the PrPC isoform, The reported expression s ystem should allow the production of quantities of bovine PrPC suffici ent to permit 3-dimensional structure determinations. (C) 1997 Federat ion of European Biochemical Societies.