Generation and characterization of a Leishmania tarentolae strain for site-directed in vivo biotinylation of recombinant proteins

Leishmania tarentolae is a non-human-pathogenic Leishmania species of growing interest in biotechnology, as it is well-suited for the expression of human recombinant proteins. For many applications it is desirable to express recombinant proteins with a tag allowing easy purification and detection. Hence, we adopted a scheme to express recombinant proteins with a His₆-tag and, additionally, to site-specifically in vivo biotinylate them for detection. Biotinylation is a relatively rare modification of endogenous proteins that allows easy detection with negligible cross-reactivity. Here, we established a genetically engineered L. tarentolae strain constitutively expressing the codon-optimized biotin-protein ligase from Escherichia coli (BirA). We thoroughly analyzed the strain for functionality using 2-D polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (PAGE), mass spectrometry, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We could demonstrate that neither metabolic changes (growth rate) nor structural abnormalities (TEM) occurred. To our knowledge, we show the first 2-D PAGE analyses of L. tarentolae. Our results demonstrate the great benefit of the established L. tarentolae in vivo biotinylation strain for production of dual-tagged recombinant proteins. Additionally, 2-D PAGE and TEM results give insights into the biology of L. tarentolae, helping to better understand Leishmania species. Finally, we envisage that the system is transferable to human-pathogenic species.