Prokaryotic expression of Staphylococcus aureus Panton-Valentine leukocidin and its cytolytic activities to human polymorphonuclear neutrophils

AIM:Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a pore-forming toxin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus epidemiologically associated with the often-lethal necrotizing pneumonia. Until now, the mechanisms of pathogenesis of PVL leading to the fatal pulmonia remains undefined and also acquired plenty of the toxins is difficult. In the present study, we obtain recombinant staphylococcal F and S components of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin by gene engineering and evaluate its biological activity in vitro, which provides an experimental basis for the further studies of its biological function and its toxicity in pneumonia. METHODS:The full-length of F and S components of PVL gene amplified from the strain of Staphylococcus aureus DNA by high-fidelity PCR was cloned into prokaryotic expression vector pET22b(+), and the vector was transformed into BL21 (DE3)plysS to construct a prokaryotic expression system. The integrity of the opening-reading frame of each construct was verified by DNA sequencing. The recombinant PVL (rPVL) was induced by1.0 mmol/L IPTG. The expressed products were identified by SDS-PAGE and the fusion proteins (6His-LukS-PV and 6His-LukF-PV) were purified from lysates of transfected E. coli cells by affinity chromatography on nitrilotriacetic acid columns. The cytolytic activity was tested by incubation of rPVL with human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) in vitro. RESULTS:The nucleotide sequence of the cloned PVL gene was the same as that of reported in GenBank. E. coli BL21 (DE3)plysS containing recombinant vectors grow at 37℃ causes some proteins to accumulate as inclusion bodies, while incubation at 30 ℃ led to a significant amount of soluble active proteins which accounted for about 31.7% of the total bacterial protein.The relative molecular weight showed on SDS-PAGE profile was consistent with the expected value which the LukS-PV protein was about 34 kD, and the LukF-PV protein was about 35 kD. The purified rPVL was obtained and its cytolytic activity to PMNs was demonstrated. CONCLUSION:The genes of lukS-PV and lukF-PV are successfully cloned into plasmid pET22b(+) and expressed in E. coli respectively, which provide a basis for analyzing the toxicity related to the diseases and further studies about the pathogenesis of PVL.