The constitutive expression of human cathelicidin LL-37 antimicrobial peptide was achieved using …

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results and Discussion
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Recombinant expression of human cathelicidin (hCAP18/LL-37) in Pichia pastoris

In-Pyo Hong¹, Sung-Jae Lee¹, Yong-Seok Kim² and Shin-Geon Choi¹

Biotechnology Letters 10.1007/s10529-006-9202-8.

Abstract 

The constitutive expression of human cathelicidin LL-37 antimicrobial peptide was achieved using the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris. An LL-37 cDNA clone was amplified by PCR using human fetal cDNA library as template. The 111 bp fragment encoding mature LL-37 gene was subcloned into pGAPZ-E, an episomal form of the pGAPZB vector incorporating PARS1. It was then transformed into the P. pastoris X-33 strain for intracellular expression. A small peptide with a molecular mass of about 5 kDa was detected by 17% peptide-PAGE analysis. The recombinant LL-37 peptide was purified from the gel and its amino acid sequence was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. The initiating amino acid, methionine, was still attached to the N-terminal region of recombinant LL-37. LL-37 crude extract from P. pastoris showed an antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus luteus as the test strain. The successful expression of human LL-37 indicates that the system may be applicable to the expression of other human defensins without resorting to fusion protein constructions.

Keywords  Cathelicidin - LL-37 - Heterologous expression -  Pichia pastoris