Fermentation and Purification of LacZ-Fused Single Chain Insulin Precursor for($B^{30}$-Homoserine) Human Insulin

In order to produce the single chain precursor of a novel human insulin analogue, (B30-Homoserine) insulin, the fermentative behaviors of Escherichia coli JM103 were studied, which harbors pKBA plasmid carrying a hybrid gene in which the gene for a single chain precursor was fused with lacZ gene under tac promoter. The maximal induction of gene expression was achieved when more than 0.05 mM of isopropyl-$\beta$-D-thiogalactopyranoside(IPTG) was supplemented to fermentation medium after 4 h cultivation of E. coli, and followed by longer than 2-h fermentation. The hybrid protein of the single chain insulin precursor was isolated from cytoplasmic inclusion bodies by dissolving in 8M urea solution, and purified through DEAE-Sephacel and Sephadex G-200 column chromatographies with a recovery of 35%. The finally purified hybrid protein showed a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel.