8 mM final concentration. The culture was grown for an additional 4 h, and then the biomass was collected by 10 min centrifugation at 4,000× g. All of the isolation steps were carried out at 4°C. The collected biomass was treated with DNase, RNase and lysozyme ARRY-438162 in vivo on ice for 1 h, as described by the manufacturer (QIAgen), and complete EDTA-free protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche) was added. The cells were ruptured with 12 consecutive ultrasonication bursts (alternating 30 s pulse, 30 s pause) at the 55 setting (Sonics Vibra Cell). The cell lysates were cleared by three

20 min centrifugations at 20,000× g. All of the other protein isolation steps were carried out. When needed, Imu3 was further purified with size-exclusion FPLC chromatography (Superdex 75 HR 10/30, Amersham Biosciences) equilibrated with 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, containing 0.15 M NaCl. Buffer exchanges were carried out using Amicon MWCO 3 kDa microconcentrators (Millipore). The his-tag was removed with the Thrombin Cleavage Capture Kit (Novagen) as described by the manufacturer. Actual mass of Imu3 protein was determined via mass spectrometry ESI + and Q-Tof (Waters-Micromass, United Kingdom). The degree of Usp-producing cell protection provided by each of the three individual immunity selleck chemicals proteins (Imu1-3) was examined in E. coli BL21(DE3) pLysE cells that were

transformed with the plasmid pET8c carrying the combination of Usp and either Imu1, Imu2 or Imu3. The transformants were isolated on LB Ap plates with IPTG (0.8 mM final concentration) after being grown overnight at 37°C. Imu3 and Usp binding Formation of a Imu3 dimer was checked using the cross-linking glutaraldehyde assay as previously described [20], native PAGE L-gulonolactone oxidase and size exclusion chromatography (HPLC). Imu3 samples (2 mg/mL) with or without the addition of 2.7 kbp double-stranded linear DNA (pUC19/EcoRI) were initially incubated at 37°C for 30 min, to allow for potential multimerization. Samples were then subjected to either native PAGE resolution or to the glutaraldehyde cross-linking procedure and Selleck ICG-001 SDS-PAGE resolution, with the LexA protein as a dimerisation-positive control. Aditionally, Imu3 was checked for

dimerisation with size exclusion chromatography (HPLC, Phenomenex Biosep SEC-S2000 column, flow rate: 1 mL/min, 50 mM NaH2PO4, 300 mM NaCl, pH8), self-cleaved LexA protein was used as a standard (11 kDa, 13 kDa and 26 kDa). Formation of the Imu3–USP complex was also investigated using the glutaraldehyde assay, after Imu3 and Usp had been mixed in equimolar ratios. DNA/RNA binding Various concentrations of either EcoRI linearised pUC19 DNA or total RNA (isolated from E. coli) and the Imu3 protein were used to establish the nucleic-acid-binding ability of Imu3. The Imu3 was incubated with either the DNA or RNA in TE buffer (10 mM Tris, 1 mM EDTA, pH 8) at 37°C for 30 min, prior to the electromobility shift assays (EMSAs) with 0.8% agarose gels.