Leukemia-inhibitory factor (LIF) is a neuropoietin able to regulate the differentiation and the survival of many cell types, which include some neuronal populations. The present study describes the genetic construction, expression, purification and properties of a diphtheria-toxin-related LIF gene fusion in which the native receptor-binding domain of diphtheria toxin was replaced with a gene encoding human LIE The fusion protein expressed from the chimeric tox gene was designated DT-(1-389)-LIF-(2-184)-peptide. This fusion protein has a deduced molecular mass of 65980 Da and is formed by fusion of the first 389 amino acids of diphtheria toxin to amino acids 2-184 of mature human LIF, using a linker of 34 amino acids that includes six consecutive histidine residues. The latter span allows for single-step purification of the fusion protein by Ni2+-resin affinity chromatography. This linker provides a high degree of flexibility between the diphtheria toxin and LIF domains, thereby permitting aggregation-free refolding of the chimeric protein while bound to the affinity column. Both LIF and DT-(1-389)-LIF-
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