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A gene for somatostatin, a mammalian peptide (14 amino acid residues) hormone, was synthesized by chemical methods. This gene was fused to the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene on the plasmid pBR322. Transformation of E. coli with the chimeric plasmid DNA led to the synthesis of a polypeptide including the sequence of amino acids corresponding to somatostatin. In vitro, active somatostatin was specifically cleaved from the large chimeric protein by treatment with cyanogen bromide. This represents the first synthesis of a functional polypeptide product from a gene of chemically synthesized origin.

Synthetic genes for human insulin A and B chains were cloned separately in plasmid pBR322. The cloned synthetic genes were then fused to an Escherichia coli #-galactosidase gene to provide efficient transcription and translation and a stable precursor protein. The insulin peptides were cleaved from Pgalactosidase, detected by radioimmunoassay and purified. Complete purification of the A chain and partiaf purification of the B chain were achieved. These products were mixed, reduced, and reoxidized. The presence of insulin was detected by radioimmunoassay.Recently improved methods of DNA chemical synthesis, combined with recombinant DNA technology, permit the design and relatively rapid synthesis of modest-sized genes that can be incorporated into prokaryotic cells for gene expression. The feasibility of this general approach was first demonstrated by the synthesis, and expression in Escherichia col, of a gene for the mammalian peptide somatostatin (1).Following the precursor protein approach used for somatostatin (1), the experimental design for this work was such that the insulin peptide chains would be made in vio as short tails joined by a methionine to the end of ,3-galactosidase. After synthesis, the insulin chains, which contain no methionine, can be cleaved off efficiently by treatment with cyanogen bromide. We deliberately chose to construct two separate bacterial strains, one for each of the two peptide chains of insulin: the 21-amino-acid A chain and the 30-amino-acid B chain. In native insulin, the two chains are held together by two disulfide bonds, and methods have been available for years for joining the chains correctly, in vitro, by air oxidation (2). The efficiency of correct joining has been variable and often low. However, by using S-sulfonated derivatives and an excess of A chain, 50-80% correct joining has been obtained (3).The synthetic plan and chemical synthesis of the DNA fragments coding for the A and B chains of human insulin were described in a previous paper (4) and were summarized in Fig. 1 Enzymes and DNA Preparations. T4 DNA ligase and T4 polynucleotide kinase were purified as described (6). Restriction endonuclease EcoRI was purified by the procedure of Greene et al. (7); HindIII was purified by a method developed by D. Goeddel (unpublished). Restriction endonuclease BamHI was purchased from Bethesda Research (Rockville, MD); E. coli alkaline phosphatase was purchased from Worthington.Plasmids, including pBR322 (8), were isolated by a published procedure (9) with some modifications. The chemical synthesis of the deoxyoligonucleotides (figure 1 of ref. 4) has been described (4). Xplac5 DNA was isolated as described (10).The following reaction buffers were used: kinase buffer, 60 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8/15mM 2-mercaptoethanol/10 mM MgCl2; ligase buffer, 20mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5/10mM dithiothreitol/10 mM MgCl2; BamHI buffer, 20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5/7 mM MgCl2/2 mM 2-mercaptoethanol; EcoRI-HindIll buffer, BamHI buffer containing 50 mM NaCl; and phosphatase buffer, 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH...

Glucose is the preferred substrate for certain fermentation processes. During its internalization and concomitant formation of glucose-6-phosphate through the glucose phosphotransferase system (PTS), one molecule of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) is consumed. Together with erythrose 4-phosphate (E4P), PEP is condensed to form 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP), the first intermediate of the common segment of the aromatic pathway. From this metabolic route, several commercially important aromatic compounds can be obtained. We have selected Escherichia coli mutants that can transport glucose efficiently by a non-PTS uptake system. In theory, this process should increase the availability of PEP for other biosynthetic reactions. Using these mutants, in a background where the DAHP synthase (the enzyme that catalyzes the condensation of PEP and E4P into DAHP) was amplified, we were able to show that at least some of the PEP saved during glucose transport, can be redirected into the aromatic pathway. This increased carbon commitment to the aromatic pathway was enhanced still further upon amplification of the E. coli tktA gene that encodes for a transketolase involved in the biosynthesis of E4P.

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