title: An automated home-built low-cost fermenter suitable for large-scale bacterial expression of proteins in Escherichia coli.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. publications@riek.ch
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Riek
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tuerk
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wallimann
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schlattner
authors.forename: Dietbert
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neumann
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism*; D005285:Fermentation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins