Heterologous expression of P9 from Akkermansia muciniphila improves the
GLP-1 secretion of intestinal L cells.
Abstract
Glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1) is an incretin hormone secreted primarily
from the intestinal L-cells in response to meals. GLP-1 is a key
regulator of energy metabolism and food intake. It has been proven that
P9 protein from A. muciniphila could increase GLP-1 release and improve
glucose homeostasis in HFD-induced mice. To obtain an engineered
Lactococcus lactis which produced P9 protein,mature polypeptide chain
of P9 was codon-optimized, fused with N-terminal signal peptide Usp45,
and expressed in L. lactis NZ9000. Heterologous secretion of P9 by
recombinant L. lactis NZP9 were successfully detected by SDS-PAGE and
western blotting. Notably, the supernatant of L. lactis NZP9 stimulated
GLP-1 production of NCI-H716 cells. The relative expression level of
GLP-1 biosynthesis gene GCG and PCSK1 were upregulated by 1.63 and 1.53
folds, respectively. The engineered strain L. lactis NZP9 was more
effective than A. muciniphila BAA-835 in stimulating the intestinal L
cells to produce GLP-1. To our knowledge, this is the first report on
the secretory expression of carboxyl-terminal processing protease P9
from A. muciniphila in L. lactis. Our results suggest that genetically
engineered L. lactis which expressed P9 may have therapeutic potential
for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and other metabolic disorders.