Heterologous Expression of Bovine Lactoferricin in Pichia methanolica

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HaiKuan Wang^1,2*, XinHuai Zhao¹, and FuPing Lu²

¹Key Lab of Diary Science, Ministry of Education, Harbin, PO 150030, P. R. China; fax: (864515) 519-0340; E-mail: hkwang@tust.edu.cn

²Tianjin Key Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, PO 300457, P. R. China; fax: (86226) 060-2298; E-mail: haikuanwangcn@yahoo.com.cn

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received December 25, 2006; Revision received January 29, 2007

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According to the bias of codon utilization of Pichia methanolica, a fragment encoding bovine lactoferricin has been cloned and expressed in the P. methanolica under the control of the alcohol oxidase promoter, which was followed by the Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor signal peptide. The alpha-factor signal peptide efficiently directed the secretion of bovine lactoferricin from the recombinant yeast cell. The recombinant bovine lactoferricin appears to be successfully expressed, as it displays antibacterial activity (antibacterial assay). Moreover, the identity of the recombinant product was estimated by Tricine-SDS-PAGE.

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KEY WORDS: heterologous expression, bovine lactoferricin, Pichia methanolica

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297907060065

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