Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is an effective instrumental alternative to conventional slab gel electrophoresis in the determination of plasmid copy number during recombinant protein formation processes. This analytical setup provides efficient separation of different species of linearized plasmid molecules and quantification by UV detection. Both fused silica and gel-filled capillaries are assessed with respect to peak resolution and reproducibility. The application of coated capillaries eliminates the electroosmatic flow to a large extent, resulting in excellent separation of DNA fragments. The application of UV detection enables the analysis of linearized plasmid DNA with a conventional laboratory CE device. All investigated plasmids show good peak resolution due to their significant differences in molecular size, which is essential for sufficient separation of individual DNA molecules.
The expression of human superoxide dismutase in fed-batch fermentation of E. coli HMS174(DE3)(pET3ahSOD) was studied as model system. Due to the frequently used strong T7 promoter system a high metabolic load is exerted, which triggers stress response mechanisms and finally leads to the differentiation of the host cell. As a consequence, host cell metabolism is partly shifted from growth to survival accompanied by significant alterations of the protein pattern. In terms of process optimization two-dimensional electrophoresis deserves as a powerful tool to monitor these changes on protein level. For the analysis of samples derived from different states of recombinant protein production wide-range Immobiline Dry Strips pH 3-10 were used. In order to establish an efficient procedure for accelerated process optimization and to avoid costly and time-consuming analysis like mass spectrometry (MS), a database approach for the identification of significant changes of the protein pattern was evaluated. On average, 935 spots per gel were detected, whereby 50 are presumably stress-relevant. Out of these, 24 proteins could be identified by using the SWISS-2DPAGE database (www.expasy.ch/ch2d/). The identified proteins are involved in regulatory networks, energy metabolism, purine and pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis and translation. By this database approach, significant fluctuations of individual proteins in relation to recombinant protein production could be identified. Seven proteins show strong alterations (>100%) directly after induction and can therefore be stated as reliable marker proteins for the assessment of stress response. For distinctive interpretation of this highly specific information, a bioinformatic and statistic tool would be essential in order to perceive the role and contribution of individual proteins in stress response.
Heterologous protein production is an important source of therapeutic products. Optimisation of such bioprocesses by adjustment of the expression rate of the heterologous protein to the biosynthetic capacity of the cell metabolism would bene®t from an online method for monitoring the metabolic burden. In this study we evaluated the use of a chemical multi-sensor array for this purpose. Fermentations with a recombinant Escherichia coli strain expressing human superoxide dismutase (rhSOD) were monitored by the sensor array. The results of isopropyl-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-induced expression were compared with fermentations with a plasmid-free strain. The overproduction of rhSOD, imposing a high metabolic burden on the plasmid-carrying cells, was distinctly and reproducibly observed by the multi-sensor array. The potential of this non-invasive method of nonspeci®c metabolic burden monitoring is demonstrated by the results of the study.
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