Advancements in Firefly Luciferase-Based Assays and Pyrosequencing Technology

Sammanfattning: Pyrosequencing is a new DNA sequencing method relying on thesequencing-by-synthesis principle and bioluminometric detectionof nucleotide incorporation events. The objective of thisthesis was improvement of the Pyrosequencing method byincreasing the thermal stability of firefly luciferase, and byintroducing an alternative DNA polymerase and a new nucleotideanalog. Furthermore, the development of a new bioluminescentassay is described for the detection of inorganicpyrophosphatase activity.The wild-type North American firefly(Photinus pyralis)luciferase is a heat-sensitiveenzyme, the catalytic activity of which is rapidly lost attemperatures over 30°C. Two strategies for increasing thethermostability of the enzyme are presented and discussed. Inthe first strategy, the solution thermodynamics of the systemis affected by osmolytes in such a way that heat-mediatedinactivation of the enzyme is prevented. In the secondstrategy, the enzyme is thermostabilized by mutagenesis. Bothstabilizing strategies can be utilized to allow bioluminometricassays to be performed at higher temperatures. For instance,both DNA polymerase and ATP sulfurylase activity could beanalyzed at 37°C.The osmolyte strategy was successfully employed forincreasing the reaction temperature for the Pyrosequencingmethod. By increasing the reaction temperature to 37°Cunspecific signals from primer-dimers and 3?-end loopswere reduced. Furthermore, sequencing of a challenging templateat 37°C, which previously yielded poor, non-interpretablesequence signals at lower temperatures was now possible.Introduction of a new adenosine nucleotide analog,7-deaza-2?-deoxyadenosine-5?-triphosphate (c7dATP) reduced the inhibitory effect on apyraseobserved with the currently used analog,2?-deoxyadenosine-5?-O-(1-thiotriphosphate)(dATP?S).Sequencing of homopolymeric T-regions has previously beendifficult with the exonuclease-deficient form of the DNApolymerase I large (Klenow) fragment. By using the DNApolymerase from bacteriophage T7, known as Sequenase, templateswith homopolymeric T-regions were successfully sequenced.Furthermore, it was found that the strand displacement activityfor both polymerases was strongly assisted if the displacedstrand had a 5?-overhang. In contrast, the stranddisplacement activity for both polymerases was inhibitedwithout an overhang, resulting in reduced sequencingperformance in double stranded regions.A firefly bioluminescent assay for the real-time detectionof inorganic pyrophosphatase in the hydrolytic direction wasalso developed. The assay is versatile and has a linearresponse in the range between 8 and 500 mU.Key words:bioluminescence, osmolytes, glycine betaine,thermostability, firefly luciferase, inorganic pyrophosphatase,inorganic pyrophosphate, Pyrosequencing technology, secondaryDNA-structures, Sequenase, Klenow-polymerase, reaction rates,temperature, c7dATP, dATP?S.