Degron-controlled protein degradation in Escherichia coli: New Approaches and Parameters

Protein degron tags have proven uniquely useful for characterization of gene function. Degrons mediate quick depletion, usually within minutes, of a protein of interest – allowing researchers to characterize cellular responses to the loss of function. To develop a general purpose degron tool in E. coli, we sought to build upon a previously characterized system of SspB-dependent inducible protein degradation. For this, we created a family of expression vectors containing a destabilized allele of SspB, capable of a rapid and nearly perfect “off-to-on” induction response. Using this system, we demonstrated control over several enzymes of DNA metabolism, but also found with other substates apparent limitations of a SspB-dependent system. Several degron target proteins were degraded too slowly to affect their complete depletion during active growth, whereas others appeared completely refractory to degron-promoted degradation. We demonstrated that a model substrate, beta-galactosidase, was positively recognized as a degron substrate, but failed to be degraded by the ClpXP protease — demonstrating an apparently unknown mechanism of protease resistance. Thus, only a minority of our, admittedly biased, selection of degron substates proved amenable to rapid SspB-catalyzed degradation. We conclude that substrate-dependence of the SspB system remains a critical factor for the success of this degron system. For substrates that prove degradable, we provide a series of titratable SspB-expression vehicles.