Nucleic acids, vectors, host cells, and methods for recombinantly producing water-soluble membrane proteins

1. A nucleic acid construct comprising:

a chimeric nucleic acid molecule encoding a tripartite fusion protein, said chimeric nucleic acid molecule comprising:

a first nucleic acid moiety encoding an amphipathic shield domain protein selected from the group consisting of apolipoprotein A (ApoA), apolipoprotein B (ApoB), apolipoprotein C (ApoC), apolipoprotein D (ApoD), apolipoprotein E (ApoE), apolipoprotein H (ApoH), and a peptide self-assembly mimic (PSAM);

a second nucleic acid moiety encoding an integral membrane protein; and

a third nucleic acid moiety encoding a water soluble expression decoy protein selected from the group consisting of outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide and DnaB lacking its native export signal peptide, wherein said first nucleic acid moiety is coupled to said second nucleic acid moiety's 3′ end and said third nucleic acid moiety is coupled to said second nucleic acid moiety's 5′ end, said coupling being direct or indirect.

2. An expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 1 .

3. A host cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 1 .

4. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the integral membrane protein is selected from the group consisting of bitopic α-helical integral membrane proteins, polytopic α-helical integral membrane proteins, integral membrane proteins with multiple helices, and polytopic β-barrel integral membrane proteins.

5. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the apolipoprotein A is truncated ApoAI (ApoAI*).

6. An expression vector comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 5 .

7. A host cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of claim 5 , wherein the host cell is E. coli.

8. The nucleic acid construct of claim 1 , wherein the water soluble expression decoy protein is outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide.

9. The nucleic acid construct of claim 5 , wherein the amphipathic shield domain protein is truncated apolipoprotein A (ApoAI*) and the water soluble expression decoy protein is outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide.

10. A method of recombinantly producing an integral membrane protein in water soluble form, said method comprising:

providing a host cell comprising:

a nucleic acid construct comprising:

a chimeric nucleic acid molecule encoding a tripartite fusion protein, said chimeric nucleic acid molecule comprising:

a first nucleic acid moiety encoding an amphipathic shield domain protein selected from the group consisting of apolipoprotein A (ApoA), apolipoprotein B (ApoB), apolipoprotein C (ApoC), apolipoprotein D (ApoD), apolipoprotein E (ApoE), apolipoprotein H (ApoH), and a peptide self-assembly mimic (PSAM);

a second nucleic acid moiety encoding an integral membrane protein; and

a third nucleic acid moiety encoding a water soluble expression decoy protein selected from the group consisting of outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide and DnaB lacking its native export signal peptide, wherein said first nucleic acid moiety is coupled to said second nucleic acid moiety's 3′ end and said third nucleic acid moiety is coupled to said second nucleic acid moiety's 5′ end, said coupling being direct or indirect; and,

culturing the host cell under conditions effective to express the integral membrane protein in a water soluble form within the host cell cytoplasm.

11. The method according to claim 10 further comprising:

recovering the integral membrane protein from the host cell following said culturing.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein said recovering further comprises:

lysing the cell to form a cell lysate comprising a water soluble fraction and

subjecting the water soluble fraction of the cell lysate to chromatography to isolate the integral membrane protein.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the recovered integral membrane protein is conformationally correct.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the integral membrane protein is selected from the group consisting of bitopic α-helical integral membrane proteins, polytopic α-helical integral membrane proteins, integral membrane proteins with multiple helices, and polytopic β-barrel integral membrane proteins.

15. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the integral membrane protein is selected from the group consisting of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and olfactory receptors.

16. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the chimeric nucleic acid molecule further comprises:

a promoter and

a termination sequence, wherein said promoter and said termination sequence are operatively coupled to the chimeric nucleic acid molecule.

17. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the chimeric nucleic acid molecule further comprises:

a linker nucleic acid moiety coupling said first, second, and/or third nucleic acid moieties together.

18. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the apolipoprotein A is truncated ApoAI (ApoAI*).

19. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the host cell is prokaryotic.

20. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the host cell is E. coli.

21. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the water soluble expression decoy protein is outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide.

22. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the amphipathic shield domain protein is truncated apolipoprotein A (ApoAI*) and the water soluble expression decoy protein is outer surface protein (OspA) lacking its native export signal peptide.