The pET28a
+-DEN2-Pol plasmid containing the NS5 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) domain (sequence from residue 272 to residue 900 of DENV-2 NGC) (GenBank accession number
KM204118.1) was obtained by PCR amplification using primers D2_NS5(262-900) FOR and REV (see
Table S2B in the supplemental material) and cloning into pET28a
+ plasmid (Merck) at BamHI/SalI sites. The fusion construct was verified by sequencing. To obtain the 6×His-NS5(272-900) protein, a procedure described in reference 52 (
link) was followed with modifications. pET28a
+-DEN2-Pol plasmid was transformed into
Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3)pLysS (StrataGene). Three liters of cells were grown in Luria Bertani (LB) medium containing 100 μg/mL ampicillin until the optical density at 600 nm (OD
600) was 0.5. Then, cells were cooled at 16°C, and protein expression was induced by the addition of 0.5 mM isopropyl-β-
d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG, ICN) overnight (O/N) at 16°C. Cells were pelleted, resuspended in resuspension buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 500 mM NaCl, 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol, 10% glycerol) added with 1 mg/mL lysozyme and complete protease inhibitors (Roche Molecular Biochemicals), and then lysed by two freeze/thaw cycles and by sonication. The lysate was centrifuged at 16,000 ×
g for 30 min, applied to a 0.5 mL-Ni-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) agarose resin column (Qiagen) that had been equilibrated in resuspension buffer. The column was washed with resuspension buffer added with 15 mM imidazole, and then protein was eluted with 20 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 500 mM NaCl, 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol, and 125 mM imidazole.
Celegato M., Sturlese M., Vasconcelos Costa V., Trevisan M., Lallo Dias A.S., Souza Passos I.B., Queiroz-Junior C.M., Messa L., Favaro A., Moro S., Teixeira M.M., Loregian A, & Mercorelli B. (2023). Small-Molecule Inhibitor of Flaviviral NS3-NS5 Interaction with Broad-Spectrum Activity and Efficacy In Vivo. mBio, 14(1), e03097-22.