A novel strategy to obtain high-level production
of mature proteins exported to the periplasm of Escherichia
coli is described. It is based on a modified
signal sequence generated by insertion of a coding sequence
of the polypeptide precursor of interest at the BamHI site
of the commercial vector pQE-30 resulting in an addition
of a dodeca-peptide (MRGSH6GS) at the N-terminus
of the precursor. The modification does not affect correct
processing of the modified signal nor proper folding of
the target protein, resulting in an untagged native product.
The method is simple for avoiding onerous optimization
of translation initiation and screening of host stains.
The usefulness of this method is illustrated by overexpression
of DsbC and DsbA. Induced by 0.01 mM IPTG at 37 °C,
proteins were overproduced to comprise 20–30% of
the total cellular proteins, and more than 95% of the expressed
proteins were correctly processed and exported into the
periplasm with yields of more than 100 mg per liter culture.