EcCustomIB for customizing E. coli for the production of recombinant proteins in inclusion bodies

Purpose and goal:

Recently, the technology to extract soluble and functional recombinant proteins from in E. coli produced inclusion bodies has improved tremendously. However, there is still a lot of room to improve inclusion body production yields in E. coli. Therefore, our goal is to set up and validate the EcCustomIB platform for customizing E. coli for the production of recombinant proteins in inclusion bodies.

Expected results and effects:

It is envisaged that the EcCustomIB platform will lead to the efficient production of recombinant proteins in inclusion bodies in E. coli. This along with the recently much improved technology to extract soluble and functional recombinant proteins from inclusion bodies makes that the production of proteins in inclusion bodies will become a very attractive and cost-effective alternative for the soluble production of recombinant proteins.

Approach and implementation:

First, an E. coli strain library with genetic modifications that can improve the production of recombinant proteins in inclusion bodies will be engineered. Next, for a set of model recombinant proteins the library will be used to identify the modifications that improve inclusion body formation. Subsequently, positive hits will be combined to further improve inclusion body formation and create customized inclusion body production strains.