An automated home-built low-cost fermenter suitable for large-scale bacterial expression of proteins in Escherichia coli.
We have developed an automated fermentation system for cost-efficient upscaling of protein expression in bacteria. The system, built for use by nonbiotechnologists, can be assembled mostly from standard laboratory equipment and allows a largely unattended growth of bacteria to OD 25 (at 600 nm) in a 12 L vessel. The typical yield of 250-350 g of wet weight cell pellet per run, which is equivalent to the biomass obtained from 250 shake flask cultures containing 400 mL Luria-Broth medium each, facilitates the production of large amounts of purified recombinant protein without the laborious need for optimization of expression and purification conditions.
Riek
Uwe
U
Institute of Cell Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. publications@riek.ch
Tuerk
Roland
R
Wallimann
Theo
T
Schlattner
Uwe
U
Neumann
Dietbert
D
D018533:Biomass; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D011994:Recombinant Proteins