Cloning, expression and purification of Ppl-1, a kappa-chain binding protein, based upon protein L from Peptostreptococcus magnus.

Protein L is a multi-domain, cell wall constituent of certain strains of Peptostreptococcus magnus, which binds to the variable domain of the L-chains of Ig. A gene fragment which codes for a single Ig-binding domain of protein L (Ppl-1) was cloned into a modified pKK223-3 vector and over-expressed in E. coli JM103. A rapid protein purification protocol is described. In these studies, purified Ppl-1 was immobilised on to an agarose gel and tested against an array of Igs and Ig fragments. It was found that Ppl-1-bound Igs from a number of different sources via interactions with the L kappa-chain. An enzyme linked immunosorbant assay has been developed to assay the binding of Ppl-1 to IgG. The incubation of Ppl-1 with human serum does not produce an immunoprecipitate, thus suggesting one unique interaction per binding domain which has been confirmed by ELISA. These experiments demonstrate the potential value of Ppl-1 as an immunological tool and as an affinity chromatography ligand for the purification of Igs.