Over-expression of recombinant proteins with N-terminal His-tag via subcellular uneven distribution in Escherichia coil

Specific tags with defined amino acid residues are widely used to purify or probe target proteins. Interestingly, the tagging system occasionally results in an increase of the recombinant protein expression in vivo. Here, we systematically examined this phenomenon using a poly-histidine （His）-tag fused to N- or C-terminal region of green, red, and blue fluorescent proteins by quantifica- tion and uneven distribution in cytoplasm of Escherichia coil This effect was further supported by the distinct over-expression of several unrelated proteins, such as esterase, neopullulanase, and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, tagging with the same tag. These results suggest that a poly- His-tag placed at N-terminal region can induce over-expression of recombinant protein via subcellu- lar uneven distribution in vivo.