• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제10권5호
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• pp.690-693
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• 2000

Efficient intron deletion with the correct splicing of the two exons of the human proinsulin gene was accomplished by a novel stepwise method using genomic DNA [5]. The two exons were separately amplified in two steps, using the second step primers that incorporated additional bases complementary to the other exon. The fragments were combined in a third PCR reaction. Cloning and sequencing of the PCR product demonstrated the correct splicing of the two exons. Expression studies, using the pET9a vector, revealed a protein band with the correct size with respect to human proinsulin as confirmed by SDS-PAGe and Western blot. Proinsulin concentration was estimated to be around 200 mg per liter culture, expressed as inclusion bodies. Protein secretion to the culture medium and periplasmic space was achieved by cloning in the pEZZ18 vector.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.142-146
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• 2017

More effective production of human insulin is important, because insulin is the main medication that is used to treat multiple types of diabetes and because many people are suffering from diabetes. The current system of insulin production is based on recombinant DNA technology, and the expression vector is composed of a preproinsulin sequence that is a fused form of an artificial leader peptide and the native proinsulin. It has been reported that the sequence of the leader peptide affects the production of insulin. To analyze how the leader peptide affects the maturation of insulin structurally, we adapted several in silico simulations using 13 artificial proinsulin sequences. Three-dimensional structures of models were predicted and compared. Although their sequences had few differences, the predicted structures were somewhat different. The structures were refined by molecular dynamics simulation, and the energy of each model was estimated. Then, protein-protein docking between the models and trypsin was carried out to compare how efficiently the protease could access the cleavage sites of the proinsulin models. The results showed some concordance with experimental results that have been reported; so, we expect our analysis will be used to predict the optimized sequence of artificial proinsulin for more effective production.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제25권10호
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• pp.1742-1750
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• 2015

Human insulin is composed of 21 amino acids of an A-chain and 30 amino acids of a B-chain. This is the protein hormone that has the role of blood sugar control. When the recombinant human proinsulin is expressed in Escherichia coli, a serious problem is the formation of an inclusion body. Therefore, the inclusion body must be denatured and refolded under chaotropic agents and suitable reductants. In this study, H27R-proinsulin was refolded from the denatured form with β-mercaptoethanol and urea. The refolding reaction was completed after 15 h at $15^{\circ}C$, whereas the reaction at $25^{\circ}C$ was faster than that at $15^{\circ}C$. The refolding yield at $15^{\circ}C$ was 17% higher than that at $25^{\circ}C$. The refolding reaction could be carried out at a high protein concentration (2 g/l) using direct refolding without sulfonation. The most economical and optimal refolding condition for human preproinsulin was 1.5 g/l protein, 10 mM glycine buffer containing 0.6 M urea, pH 10.6, and 0.3 mM β-mercaptoethanol at $15^{\circ}C$ for 16 h. The maximum refolding yield was 74.8% at $15^{\circ}C$ with 1.5 g/l protein. Moreover, the refolded preproinsulin could be converted into normal mature insulin with two enzymes. The average amount of human insulin was 138.2 g from 200 L of fermentation broth after enzyme reaction with H27R-proinsulin. The direct refolding process for H27R-proinsulin was successfully set up without sulfonation. The step yields for refolding and enzyme reaction were comparatively high. Therefore, our refolding process for production of recombinant insulin may be beneficial to the large-scale production of other biologically active proteins.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.75-80
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• 2000

An improved method of refolding recombinant human proinsulin from E. coli was presented. It was based on a two-stage stirred tank reactor in which denatured proinsulin-s-sulfonate was mixed instantaneously with a reaction buffer in the first stage reactor, and then fed to the second stage reactor. The mixture was stirred further for a total of 30h in the second stage reactor. In this system, unfavorable effects present due to the increase in reaction volume and protein concentration for protein refolding, which becomes significant in a large-scale operation, were avoided. Refolding yields of over 80% was obtained for achieving reaction volume of upto 50 l at protein concentration of 1 mg/ml. The optimum urea concentration was 1M. Refolding yield at the 1-1 reaction volume and protein concentration of 0.5mg/ml was increased about 2.5-fold, compared to that in a batch reactor. By increasing protein concentration in a two-stage refolding reaction, the cost for insulin production could be reduced, therefore, making this process economical.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권5호
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• pp.983-989
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• 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.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.169-177
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• 2013

최근 급속도로 당뇨병 환자가 증가하면서 인슐린 시장이 크게 성장하고 있다. 또한 최근 식물체를 이용하여 의약용 단백질 생산이 경제적인 측면과 안정성 측면에서 매우 효과적임이 보고되고 있어 이를 이용한 분자농업이 주목을 받고 있다. 본 연구에서는 인슐린 단백질을 식물체에서 생산하기 위한 유전자 발현 construct를 설계하기 위한 실험으로서 식물발현용 preprominiinsulin construct를 제조하기 위한 단계적 실험을 수행하였다. 우선 proinsulin이 무세포 식물 전사/번역시스템에서 성공적으로 발현됨을 확인하였다. Prominiinsulin construct를 제조하여 대장균에서 발현시키는데 성공하였으며, 이를 트립신으로 절단한 후 인간 항인슐린 항체를 이용한 western 분석을 통하여 효과적으로 A-펩타이드와 B-펩타이드가 형성되며 이후 적절하게 접힘이 일어나고 hexamer로 조립됨을 확인하였다. 이후 식물체에서 재조합 인슐린 유전자가 발현되는지를 확인하기 위하여 RFP 결합 construct를 제조하여 담배의 현탁배양세포인 BY-2 세포에 형질전환시켜 RFP 결합 preprominiinsulin이 성공적으로 발현됨을 확인 하였다. 이러한 성공적인 연구 결과를 토대로 향후 이 construct는 RFP 단백질을 제거하여 35S 프로모터에 직접 유도되는 [N 말단 ${\rightarrow}$ tobacco E2 시그널 펩타이드 ${\rightarrow}$ B-펩타이드(1-29 AA) ${\rightarrow}$ AAK ${\rightarrow}$ A-펩타이드(1-21 AA) ${\rightarrow}$ RR ${\rightarrow}$ His6 ${\rightarrow}$ KDEL ${\rightarrow}$ C 말단] construct를 제조하여 담배 식물체에 형질전환시켜 분자농업을 통해 인간 인슐린 단백질을 생산하는데 활용하고자 한다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제17권8호
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• pp.1236-1241
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• 2007

Five fusion proteins between Z domains derived from Staphylococcal Protein A and Green Fluorescent Protein or Human Proinsulin were produced on the periplasm of Escherichia coli. The effects of the molecular weight and amino acid composition of the translocated peptide, culture medium composition, and growth phase of the bacterial culture were analyzed regarding the expression and periplasmic secretion of the recombinant proteins. It was found that secretion was not affected by the size of the translocated peptide (17-42 kDa) and that the highest periplasmic production values were obtained on the exponential phase of growth. Moreover, the highest periplasmic values were obtained in minimal medium, showing the relevance of the culture medium composition on secretion. In silico prediction analysis suggested that with respect to the five proteins used in this study, those that are prone to form ${\alpha}$-helix structures are more translocated to the periplasm.