PROCESS FOR PRODUCING PROTEIN CAPABLE OF FORMING INCLUSION BODY

摘要

Disclosed is a process for producing a protein capable of forming an inclusion body. Specifically disclosed is a nucleic acid fragment which comprises a sequence composed of: a nucleotide sequence encoding a modified alkaline phosphatase signal peptide (a modified APSP) which is produced by substituting a leucine residue at position-13 in the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:1 by a proline residue and/or substituting an alanine residue at position-21 in the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:1 by another amino acid residue; and a nucleotide sequence for a desired protein gene, which is linked downstream from the aforementioned nucleotide sequence.  Also specifically disclosed is a process for producing a protein capable of forming an inclusion body, which comprises the following steps (1) to (3): (1) preparing an expression vector which has, integrated therein, a nucleic acid fragment comprising a sequence composed of a nucleotide sequence encoding a modified signal peptide and a nucleotide sequence for a desired protein gene which is linked downstream from the aforementioned nucleotide sequence; (2) preparing a host which can produce a protein capable of forming an inclusion body, wherein the host has been transformed with the expression vector; and (3) culturing the host to produce a culture and purifying the protein from the culture.  The above-mentioned another amino acid residue is selected from the group consisting of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, histidine, phenylalanine and tyrosine.