The paper describes the synthesis of the phosphorylcholine-binding miniantibody McPC603scFvDhl x in cell-wall-less L-form
strains of
Escherichia coli and
Proteus mirabilis. Cells of these strains were transformed with the plasmid pACK02scKan, carrying the miniantibody (miniAb) coding sequence
under the control of the
lac promoter. L-form transformants of both species were able to synthesize the functional miniAb as an extracellular soluble
product. The highest quantities were obtained by
P. mirabilis L-form strains after induction with 5 mM isopropyl β-
d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). Yields of 45–75 mg/l total antibody protein and of 10–18 mg/l functional miniAb were estimated
in the growth medium of shaking cultures 40–80 h after induction with IPTG. About 10% of the active miniAb remained cell-bound.
The yields of functional miniAb could be optimized by lowering the growth temperature from 37 °C to 26–32 °C and by supplementation
of the medium with 80 mM sodium fumarate. A comparison of the specific activities revealed that the
P. mirabilis L-form strains have a similar synthesis capacity (2–4 mg functional miniAb/g cell dry weight) to that of the producer strain
E. coli RV308. The results show that the processes of correct folding and assembling of the miniAb molecules are possible without
the periplasmic compartment.
Received: 14 April 1997 / Received revision: 17 July 1997 / Accepted: 25 August 1997