title: Authentic human basic fibroblast growth factor produced by secretion in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: Bacillus subtilis is generally accepted as an inborn host candidate employed for secretory production of heterologous proteins. However, this ideal host system has never been employed for commercial production of medically useful proteins. In this communication, we report for the first time the employment of an engineered B. subtilis system, in conjunction with a facile cell-wall destabilization protocol, to successfully obtain an alluring yield of 40 mg l(-1) of secreted human basic fibroblast growth factor (hbFGF) in the culture supernatant. The product was not only shown to exhibit potent bioactivity but also revealed to possess a protein sequence identical to that of mature native hbFGF (Mat-hbFGF). Our findings may pave way for the development of a cost-effective process for producing Mat-hbFGF, which is currently sold at an unusually expensive price of over US $1 million g(-1), for medical and skin care applications.
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Keith W Y
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Yule Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: W K R
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D017931:DNA Primers; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2