Human KCTD12 and KCTD16 genes were synthesized (Integrated DNA Technologies). KCTD12 (residues 32–131) and KCTD16 (residues 23–124) BTB domains were cloned into a
pET28a expression vector (EMD Millipore) for the expression of an N-terminal His
6-SUMO fusion protein or an untagged version in
Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3). KCTD12 (residues 200–325) and KCTD16 (residues 158–279) H1 domain were cloned into the multiple cloning site 1 of
pETduet-1 vector (EMD Millipore) and expressed with an N-terminal His
6-SUMO tag followed by 3C protease site. All human GABA
B2 C-terminal truncations were cloned into the same vector with an N-terminal His
6-GST or His
6-SUMO fusion protein followed by 3C protease site and were expressed in BL21(DE3)
E. coli. KCTD12 (residues 32–325) and KCTD16 (residues 21–279) constructs containing both BTB and H1 domains were cloned into the vector pVL1393 vector (Expression Systems) and protein was expressed using baculovirus infection of
Sf9 insect cells (Expression Systems) according the manufacturer’s protocols. These constructs were expressed with an N-terminal His
6-GST fusion protein followed by a 3C protease site. Human Gα
q was cloned into pVL1393 without tags. Human Gβ
1γ
2 heterodimer was modified to include an N-terminal His6 tag on the Gβ subunit and a C68S point mutation in Gγ, which eliminates the lipid modification site. A bicistronic vector based on pVL1392 was used to prepare baculovirus encoding both subunits. All point mutations and deletions were introduced by the QuikChange method.
Plasmids encoding untagged KCTD16 BTB and His
6-GST-tagged GABA
B2 fragment were co-transformed into
E. coli BL21(DE3) strain. Bacteria were cultured in LB medium supplemented with 50 μg ml
−1 ampicillin and 50 μg ml
−1 kanamycin at 37 °C to an OD
600 value of 0.8, and protein expression was induced by the addition of 0.5 mM isopropyl 1-thio-β-D-glucopyranoside followed by shaking overnight at 18 °C. Cells were harvested by centrifugation, resuspended in buffer A (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 250 mM NaCl and 25 mM Imidazole) and lysed by sonication. His-GST-GABA
B2 fragment in complex with KCTD16
BTB was purified from clarified lysate by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. Resin was washed with buffer A and protein then eluted with buffer B (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 250 mM NaCl and 250 mM Imidazole). The eluted fraction was incubated with 3C protease overnight to cleave His6-GST tag. Protein solution was diluted three-fold by 20 mM HEPES-NaOH, pH 7.6 and loaded onto a Q sepharose column (GE Healthcare). The flow-through was collected, concentrated and further purified by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) Superdex S200 10/300 equilibrated in storage buffer (10 mM HEPES-NaOH pH 7.6, and 150 mM NaCl). Protein expression and nickel affinity purification for His
6-SUMO-tagged KCTD12 H1 was performed as described above. After tag cleavage by 3C protease, the protein sample was concentrated and purified on a Superdex S200 10/300 size exclusion column equilibrated in storage buffer.
His
6-GST-tagged KCTD12 32–325 or KCTD16 21–279 was expressed in
Sf9 insect cell cultures using the BestBac baculovirus system (Expression Systems). Infection was performed when cells reached a density of 3 × 10
6 cell per mL and flasks were shaken at 27 °C for 36 hours before harvest. Cells were harvested by centrifugation and lysed in buffer A using a glass dounce tissue grinder. Protein was purified by Ni-NTA gravity flow chromatography followed by glutathione agarose bead affinity purification (GE Healthcare). The protein was further purified by Superdex S200 10/300 equilibrated in storage buffer. His6-tagged Gβ
1 and Gγ
2 (C68S mutant) were expressed in
Sf9 insect cells using the BestBac system (Expression Systems) as described above. Purification was performed as previously reported
23 (link).
For KCTD12
H1/Gβ
1γ
2 complex assembly and purification, individually purified KCTD12 H1 and Gβ
1γ
2 proteins were mixed in a 1:1.2 molar ratio and then incubated at room temperature for 30 min. Excess Gβ
1γ
2 was separated from KCTD12 H1/Gβ
1γ
2 complex on a Superdex S200 10/300 column in binding buffer (20 mM HEPES-NaCl pH 7.6 and 50 mM NaCl). For KCTD16 21–279/GABA
B2 876–913 complex, purified His6-SUMO-tagged GABA
B2 876–913 and His6-GST-tagged KCTD16 21–279 were mixed in a 2:1 molar ratio. The His6-SUMO tag of GABA
B2 and His6-GST tag of KCTD16 21–279 were cleaved by 3C protease at 4°C overnight. The protein complex was further purified by SEC S200 10/300 with storage buffer. For KCTD12 32–325/GABA
B2 876–913/ Gβ
1γ
2 complex, individually purified His
6-GST-tagged KCTD12 32–325, His
6-SUMO-tagged GABA
B2 876–913, and Gβ
1γ
2 were mixed in a 1:2:1.2 ratio. After tag cleavage by 3C protease the protein sample was loaded onto Superdex S200 10/300 equilibrated in binding buffer.
Zheng S., Abreu N., Levitz J, & Kruse A.C. (2019). Structural basis for KCTD-mediated rapid desensitization of GABAB signaling. Nature, 567(7746), 127-131.