Overproduction of human interleukin-2 in recombinant Escherichia coli BL21 high-cell-density culture by the determination and optimization of essential amino acids using a simple stoichiometric model.

In order to increase the productivity of human IL-2 (interleukin-2), a stoichiometric model has been used to determine the most essential amino acids and precise values of their amounts to be added to the culture during expression of human IL-2 (as a model protein) by recombinant Escherichia coli BL21 (pET21a-hil2). Experiments were performed to investigate the effect of chosen amino acids and their interactions on expression of human IL-2. Glutamine, a mixture of leucine, aspartic acid and glycine, and a mixture of leucine, glutamine and aspartic acid, were the most effective for the expression of IL-2. The most promising amino acids were then chosen for further experiments at three different levels to determine whether altering their stoichiometry can lead to better expression levels. The optimized value of glutamine in the flask was 0.316 g/l; a mixture of leucine, glutamine and aspartic acid at concentrations of 0.124, 0.316 and 0.212 g/l respectively and of leucine, aspartic acid and glycine in concentrations of 0.124, 0.212, 0.111 g/l respectively were chosen to be added to the flask. The effect of glutamine, as one of the amino acids most influencing the expression of IL-2 in batch and fed-batch high-cell-density cultures, was studied. The results revealed that the amount of expressed IL-2 compared with the control culture increased from 81 to 195 mg/l in the shake flask, 403 to 594 mg/l in the fermentor and 5.15 to 10.01 g/l in the fermentor under fed-batch cultivation.

Two-stage glycerol feeding for enhancement of recombinant hG-CSF production in a fed-batch culture of Pichia pastoris.

Recombinant hG-CSF was expressed in Pichia pastoris under the control of the AOX1 promoter. In this study, the glycerol feeding rate was adjusted to achieve the maximum attainable specific growth rate before induction. Using a two-stage glycerol feeding method, the specific growth rate was changed from a maximum value of 0.21 h(-1) (at the beginning of feeding) to 0.15 h(-1) prior to induction. With this approach, the final dry cell wt and rhG-CSF yield achieved was close to 120 g l(-1) and 320 mg l(-1), respectively. Our study found that the two-stage feeding method allowed the overall productivity of rhG-CSF to increase 2.9 times that of the conventional fed-batch method.

Process development for production of recombinant human interferon-gamma expressed in Escherichia coli.

A simple fed-batch process was carried out using constant and variable specific growth rates for high-cell-density cultivation of Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) expressing human interferon-gamma(hIFN-gamma). The feeding rate was adjusted to achieve an appropriate specific growth rate. The dissolved oxygen level was maintained at 20-30% of air saturation by control of airflow and stirrer speed and, where necessary, by enrichment of inlet air with pure oxygen. Glucose was the sole source of carbon and energy and was provided by following a simple exponential feeding rate. The final cell density in the fed-batch fermentation with constant and variable specific growth rate feeding strategies was ~100 g dry cell wt l(-1) after 36 and 20 h, respectively. The final specific yield and overall productivity of recombinant hIFN-gamma in the variable specific growth rate strategy were 0.35 g rHu-IFN-gamma g(-1) dry cell wt and 0.9 g rHu-IFN-gamma l(-1) h(-1), respectively. A new chromatographic purification procedure involving anion exchange and cation exchange chromatographies was developed for purification of rHu-IFN-gamma from inclusion bodies. The established purification process is reproducible and the total recovery of rHu-IFN-gamma was ~30% (100 mg rHu-IFN-gamma g(-1) dry cell wt). The purity of the rHu-IFN-gamma was determined using HPLC. Sterility, pyrogenicity, and DNA content tests were conducted to assure the absence of toxic materials and other components of E. coli in the final product. The final purified rHu-IFN-gamma has a specific antiviral activity of ~2 x 10(7) IU/mg protein, as determined by viral cytopathic effect assay. These results certify the product for clinical purposes.

Over-expression of recombinant human interferon-gamma in high cell density fermentation of Escherichia coli.

Human interferon-gamma (hIFN-gamma) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) under the control of the T7 promoter. Glucose was used as the sole source of carbon and energy with simple exponential feeding rate in fed-batch process. Cell density of recombinant E. coli was reached to 100 g dry wt l(-1) under both constant (0.12 h(-1)) and variable (0.12-0.52 h(-1)) specific growth rates. In the variable specific growth rate fed-batch process, plasmid stability and specific yield of rhIFN-gamma were greater than constant specific growth rate fed-batch process. The final specific yield and overall productivity of rhIFN-gamma were 0.35 +/- 0.02 g rhIFN-gamma g(-1) dry cell wt and 0.9 +/- 0.05 g rhIFN-gamma l(-1) h(-1) in the variable specific growth rate fed-batch process, respectively.