• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.983-989
• /
• 2008

Human insulin is a hormone well-known to regulate the blood glucose level. Recombinant preproinsulin, a precursor of authentic insulin, is typically produced in E. coli as an inactive inclusion body, the solubilization of which needs the addition of reducing agents such as $\beta$-mercaptoethanol. To make authentic insulin, recombinant preproinsulin is modified enzymatically by trypsin and carboxypeptidase B. The effects of $\beta$-mercaptoethanol on the formation of human insulin derivatives were investigated in the enzymatic modification by using commercially available human proinsulin as a substrate. Addition of 1 mM $\beta$-mercaptoethanol induced the formation of various insulin derivatives. Among them, the second major one, impurity 3, was found to be identical to the insulin B chain fragment from $Phe_1$ to $Glu_{21}$. Minimization of the formation of insulin derivatives and concomitant improvement of the production yield of human insulin were achieved by the addition of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide bound with $\beta$-mercaptoethanol and thereby reduced the negative effects of $\beta$-mercaptoethanol considerably. Elimination of the impurity 3 and other derivatives by the addition of over 10 mM hydrogen peroxide in the presence of $\beta$-mercaptoethanolled to a 1.3-fold increase in the recovery efficiency of insulin, compared with those for the case without hydrogen peroxide. The positive effects of hydrogen peroxide were also confirmed with recombinant human preproinsulin expressed in recombinant E. coli as an inclusion body.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2003.04a
• /
• pp.34-38
• /
• 2003

For the production of $B^{30}-homoserine$ insulin analog as a novel anti-diabetic drug, the fermentative study was attempted for the maximal gene expression of HTS-fused $B^{30}-homoserine$ insulin precursor in the recombinant Escherichia coli cells. In a batch fermentation, the maximal production of insulin precursor as much as 38.95 mg/L-h, which occupied more than 12.8% of total cell protein. was achieved when the gene expression was induced by 0.5 mM IPTG at the middle logarithmic growth phase. The HTS-fused $B^{30}-homoserine$ insulin precursor was recovered from a batch culture through the processes of cell harvest, collection of insoluble fraction after sonication and purification by nickel affinity column chromatography. The isolated insulin precursor was 14 mg/L with a recovery yield of 35.9% of expressed gene product. The insulin A and B chain mixture was recovered after the insulin precursor was subjected to CNBr cleavage and purified by nickel affinity column chromatography. The isolated insulin chains were then sulfitolyzed with sodium thiosulfat and sodium tetrathionate, and reconstituted to insulin analog with ${\beta}-mercaptoethanol$, followed by purification with CM-Sepharose C-25 column chromatography.