The E. coli TOP10 strain was transformed by electroporation with the constructed plasmid (pET28b/clpP). The constructed plasmid pET28b/clpP high throughput screening compounds was confirmed by digestion and sequenced with fluorescent terminators (Big Dye, Applied Biosystems) using the ABI PRISM® 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems). Once analyzed, the plasmid was transformed into E. coli BL21 Star (DE3)™. The cell viability of the stock of recombinant E. coli BL21 Star (DE3)™/pET28b/clpP in LB (5 g/L yeast extract, 10 g/L tryptone, 5 g/L NaCl, pH 7) with 25% glycerol, stored at −70 °C, was assessed by counting the colony forming units (CFUs) for all the experimental design experiments. Serial dilutions were made

in PBS pH 7.4 and transferred to Petri plates containing LB Agar and 50 μg/mL kanamycin (concentration of stocks around 1010 CFU/mL). Recombinant E. coli BL21 Star (DE3)™/pET28b/ClpP was pre-inoculated (10 μL) in 10 mL of the LB medium enriched with 1% glucose, 0.4% glycerol and 50 μg/mL kanamycin. LY2157299 supplier The pre-inoculum was incubated for 16 h at 37 °C and 200 rpm in 50 mL

flasks under agitation. The inoculum was prepared in 500 mL flasks with 2 mL pre-inoculum and 100 mL of the LB medium enriched with 1% glucose, 0.4% glycerol and different kanamycin concentrations according to the experimental design (as described in the next section). The culture was incubated at 37 °C and 200 rpm until it reached the exponential growth phase (Abs600 nm between 0.65 and 0.75). At this point, expression was induced with IPTG for 4 h under different induction concentrations according to the experimental design. E. coli BL21 (DE3) Star/pET28a was used as a negative control. 1 mL samples were taken from each experiment before and after the 4 h expression period to assess cell growth, ClpP expression (by SDS-PAGE) and solubility. The cells were harvested by centrifugation at 20,817 × g for 5 min to separate the culture medium. In order to assess the solubility of the expressed

protein the cells were resuspended in a lysis inhibitors buffer (20 mM Tris, 1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0) at a ratio of 25 μL buffer to each 0.1 of Abs600 nm (normalizing to Abs600 nm), to obtain the total protein extract. The total extract was put through five 10 s ultrasound cycles at 30% amplitude in an ultrasonic Isotretinoin cell disruptor (Sonics & Materials, Inc.). The soluble and insoluble fractions of the total protein were separated from the cultures by centrifugation (20,817 × g for 10 min at 10 °C). The samples were added to 12% SDS-PAGE [17], stained with Coomassie Blue R-250. The influence of kanamycin and IPTG concentration on cell growth, the concentration of expressed protein and plasmid stability was assessed by using a central composite design for two variables. Eight experiments were performed, four of which were replications at the center point (CP), as described in the previous section.