Regioselective Covalent Immobilization of Catalytically Active Glutathione S‑Transferase on Glass Slides

The high selectivity of protein farnesyltransferase was used to regioselectively append farnesyl analogues bearing bioorthogonal alkyne and azide functional groups to recombinant Schistosoma japonicum glutathione S-transferase (GSTase) and the active modified protein was covalently attached to glass surfaces. The cysteine residue in a C-terminal CVIA sequence appended to N-terminally His6-tagged glutathione S-transferase (His6-GSTase-CVIA) was post-translationally modified by incubation of purified protein or cell-free homogenates from E. coli M15/pQE-His6-GSTase-CVIA with yeast protein farnesyltransferase (PFTase) and analogues of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) containing ω-azide and alkyne moieties. The modified proteins were added to wells on silicone-matted glass slides whose surfaces were modified with PEG units containing complementary ω-alkyne and azide moieties and covalently attached to the surface by a Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen [3 + 2] cycloaddition. The wells were washed and assayed for GSTase activity by monitoring the increase in A 340 upon addition of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) and reduced glutathione (GT). GSTase activity was substantially higher in the wells spotted with alkyne (His6-GSTase-CVIA-PE) or azide (His6-GSTase-CVIA-AZ) modified glutathione-S-transferase than in control wells spotted with farnesyl-modified enzyme (His6-GSTase-CVIA-F).