Expression of eukaryotic coding sequences in Methylophilus methylotrophus.

Abstract

Although there have been many reports of the expression of eukaryotic genes in Escherichia coli K-12 (refs 1–4), very little attention has focused on the expression of these sequences in other bacteria. The use of other organisms may prove advantageous, especially with regard to industrial processes. For example, work is in progress to develop alternative host/vector systems based on Bacillus subtills5 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae6. The obligate methylotroph, Methylophilus methylotrophus, is a fermentation organism which grows very well on cheap substrates, methanol and ammonia. Moreover, obligate methylotrophs are unlikely to infect man and hence may be considered relatively safe. Here we report the expression of two eukaryotic cDNAs encoding chicken ovalbumin and mouse dihydrofolate reductase in M. methylotrophus, hence demonstrating the potential of this organism for the commercial production of mammalian peptides.