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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4862-4869, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Procaryotic Expression of Single-Chain Variable-Fragment (scFv) Antibodies: Secretion in L-Form Cells of Proteus mirabilis Leads to Active Product and Overcomes the Limitations of Periplasmic Expression in Escherichia coli

Jörg F. Rippmann,1 Michaela Klein,2 Christian Hoischen,3 Bodo Brocks,2 Wolfgang J. Rettig,4 Johannes Gumpert,3 Klaus Pfizenmaier,2 Ralf Mattes,1 and Dieter Moosmayer2,*

Institut für Industrielle Genetik1 and Institut für Zellbiologie und Immunologie,2 Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie, 07745 Jena,3 and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG, 88397 Biberach (Riss),4 Germany

Received 24 July 1998/Accepted 7 October 1998

Recently it has been demonstrated that L-form cells of Proteus mirabilis (L VI), which lack a periplasmic compartment, can be efficiently used in the production and secretion of heterologous proteins. In search of novel expression systems for recombinant antibodies, we compared levels of single-chain variable-fragment (scFv) production in Escherichia coli JM109 and P. mirabilis L VI, which express four distinct scFvs of potential clinical interest that show differences in levels of expression and in their tendencies to form aggregates upon periplasmic expression. Production of all analyzed scFvs in E. coli was limited by the severe toxic effect of the heterologous product as indicated by inhibition of culture growth and the formation of insoluble aggregates in the periplasmic space, limiting the yield of active product. In contrast, the L-form cells exhibited nearly unlimited growth under the tested production conditions for all scFvs examined. Moreover, expression experiments with P. mirabilis L VI led to scFv concentrations in the range of 40 to 200 mg per liter of culture medium (corresponding to volume yields 33- to 160-fold higher than those with E. coli JM109), depending on the expressed antibody. In a translocation inhibition experiment the secretion of the scFv constructs was shown to be an active transport coupled to the signal cleavage. We suppose that this direct release of the newly synthesized product into a large volume of the growth medium favors folding into the native active structure. The limited aggregation of scFv observed in the P. mirabilis L VI supernatant (occurring in a first-order-kinetics manner) was found to be due to intrinsic features of the scFv and not related to the expression process of the host cells. The P. mirabilis L VI supernatant was found to be advantageous for scFv purification. A two-step chromatography procedure led to homogeneous scFv with high antigen binding activity as revealed from binding experiments with eukaryotic cells.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Zellbiologie und Immunologie, Universität Stuttgart, Allmandring 31, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany. Phone: 049 711 685 6992. Fax: 049 711 685 7484. E-mail: dieter.moosmayer{at}po.uni-stuttgart.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1998, p. 4862-4869, Vol. 64, No. 12
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.