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Characterization of recombinant protein ferritin from Pyropia yezoensis (rPyFer) and its biological activities

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Abstract

Ferritins are iron-binding proteins that are basically participated in iron storage, detoxification, and immune response. In the present study, ferritin gene from the marine red algae Pyropia yezoensis was cloned into a pET21d expression vector. High-efficiency transformation was performed in Escherichia coli BL21, the recombinant protein was expressed by induction with 0.1 mM isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside and purified via ammonium sulfate precipitation, anion exchange and size exclusion chromatography. The purified recombinant ferritin from P. yezoensis (rPyFer) was characterized and analyzed for its antimicrobial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial cultures and exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Gram-positive cultures. The recombinant protein was also analyzed for its iron-uptake and radical-scavenging activities; rPyFer exhibited significant iron-uptake activity at low concentrations, and its radical-scavenging activity increased in a dose-dependent manner. This research will contribute to the development of new therapeutic proteins from marine algae.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge that this research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 2012R1A6A1028677).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Fisheries Sciences, Pukyong National University, Busan, 46041, Republic of Korea

    Selvakumari Ulagesan, Jeong-Wook Choi, Taek-Jeong Nam & Youn-Hee Choi

  2. Department of Marine Bio-materials and Aquaculture, Pukyong National University, 45, Yongso-ro, Nam-Gu, Busan, 48513, Republic of Korea

    Youn-Hee Choi

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  1. Selvakumari Ulagesan
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  2. Jeong-Wook Choi
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Correspondence to Youn-Hee Choi.

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Ulagesan, S., Choi, JW., Nam, TJ. et al. Characterization of recombinant protein ferritin from Pyropia yezoensis (rPyFer) and its biological activities. Food Sci Biotechnol 29, 1501–1509 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-020-00821-8

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