| WARF: P06422US |  |
| Designing Culture Media for Enhanced Protein Expression |
| INVENTORS | • | Brian Fox, Paul Blommel |
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is seeking commercial partners interested in developing a method for designing culture media that promote improved expression of recombinant genes.
OVERVIEW
Recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to produce many proteins in bacterial cells. Because such proteins are widely used as research tools, diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, reliable and reproducible methods for their high throughput production are needed. One approach toward protein production is the auto-induction method, which has been used to produce recombinant proteins in E. coli. This technique uses different carbon sources to support bacterial cell growth and protein expression without the need to monitor culture growth. Auto-induction protocols are attractive for both small- and large-scale growth of bacterial cultures because they should require less monitoring and result in higher cell density than traditional IPTG (isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside) induction; however, these methods do not perform as expected and have not been widely adopted.
THE INVENTION
UW-Madison researchers have developed a method for designing culture media that promote improved expression of recombinant target genes. This invention also includes a specific set of media recipes designed using this method. The method involves a step-wise process of evaluating each component of the medium. First, the concentration of one constituent of the medium is changed, and the outcome of the change evaluated. Then the concentration that results in the most favorable expression of recombinant DNA is adopted, and the concentration of a second constituent is changed to determine its optimal concentration. The process is repeated until the concentrations of all components in the culture medium have been optimized for promoting induction of transcription of foreign DNA.
APPLICATIONS
- Small- and large-scale protein production
KEY BENEFITS
- Improves expression of desired recombinant genes
- Promotes auto-induction of DNA transcription in cultures of bacterial cells
- Results in enhanced protein expression in vitro
- Overcomes limitations of current auto-induction protocols
- Enhances protein production whether the culture conditions are aerobic or anaerobic
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For More Information About the Inventors
Publications
Fox B.G. and Blommel P.G. 2009. Autoinduction of Protein Expression. Curr. Protoc. Protein Sci. 56, 5.23.1-5.23.18.
Intellectual Property Status
Tech Fields
Research Tools - Media
CONTACT INFORMATION
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