Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a debilitating autoimmune disease with poly- and mono-genic etiologies. One cause of monogenic SLE is disruption of Dnase1L3. Dnase1L3 is a serum endonuclease that degrades chromatin in apoptotic microparticles. Dnase1L3 could represent a novel therapy for some cases of SLE. However, the structure of Dnase1L3 is predicted by the 42% identical protein Dnase1.
To better understand the structure-function of Dnase1L3, we set out to solve the crystal structure. To solve the crystal structure, we first generated a recombinant His6-Maltose Binding Protein-Dnase1L3 fusion protein.
Overall, we have developed new purification method for generating active Dnase1L3 useful for crystallography and other high-purity applications.