A Fermentation Strategy for Anti-MUC1 C595 Diabody Expression in Recombinant Escherichia Coli

The development of fermentation conditions for the production of C595 diabody fragment (dbFv) in E. coli HB2151 clone has been explored. Investigations were carried out to study the effect of carbon supplements over the expression period, the comparison of C595 dbfv production in synthetic and complex media, the influence of acetic acid upon antibody production, and comparison of one-stage and two-stage processes operated at batch or fed-batch modes in bioreactor. Yeast extract supplied during expression yielded more antibody fragment than any other carbon supply. The synthetic medium presented higher specific productivity (0.066 mg dbFv $g^{-1}$ dry cell weight) when compared to the complex medium (0.044 mg dbFv $g^{-1}$ DCW). The comparison of fermentation strategies demonstrated that (1) one-stage fed-batch fermentation performed higher C595 dbFv production than that operated in batch mode which was significantly affected by acetate concentration; (2) a two-stage batch operation could enhance C595 dbFv production. It was found that a concentration of 12.3 mg $L^{-1}$ broth of C595 dbFv and a cell concentration of 10.8g $L^{-1}$ broth were achieved at the end of two-stage operation in 5-L fermentation.