Production of Bioactive Human Hemangiopoietin in Escherichia coli

---

Jie Zhang, Jian-Feng Li, and Shuang-Quan Zhang*

Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory for Molecular and Medical Biotechnology, Life Science College, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, Jiangsu, P. R. China; fax: (8625)8589-1053; E-mail: shuangquanz@yahoo.com

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 13, 2009; Revision received August 26, 2009

---

To devise an efficient approach for production of human hemangiopoietin (hHAPO), the gene of hHAPO was synthesized and subcloned into the pSUMO vector with a SUMO tag at the N-terminus. The expression construct was then transformed into the expression strain E. coli BL21(DE3). The fusion protein was expressed in soluble form and identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The fusion protein was purified to 90% purity by metal chelate chromatography with a yield of 45 mg per liter fermentation culture. The SUMO tag was removed by cleavage with SUMO protease at room temperature for 1 h, and the hHAPO was then re-purified by the metal chelate chromatography. Finally, about 21 mg hHAPO was obtained from 1 liter of fermentation culture with no less than 95% purity. The recombinant hHAPO significantly stimulated the proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

---

KEY WORDS: E. coli, fermentation, hemangiopoietin, Ni-NTA, purification, SUMO

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297910040127

---