Challenges Associated With the Formation of Recombinant Protein Inclusion Bodies in Escherichia coli and Strategies to Address Them for Industrial Applications

Arshpreet Bhatwa; Weijun Wang; Yousef I Hassan; Nadine Abraham; Xiu-Zhen Li; Ting Zhou

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2021.630551

Challenges Associated With the Formation of Recombinant Protein Inclusion Bodies in Escherichia coli and Strategies to Address Them for Industrial Applications

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Feb 10:9:630551. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.630551. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Arshpreet Bhatwa^{1

2}, Weijun Wang¹, Yousef I Hassan¹, Nadine Abraham^{1

3}, Xiu-Zhen Li¹, Ting Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ Guelph Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada.
² Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Recombinant proteins are becoming increasingly important for industrial applications, where Escherichia coli is the most widely used bacterial host for their production. However, the formation of inclusion bodies is a frequently encountered challenge for producing soluble and functional recombinant proteins. To overcome this hurdle, different strategies have been developed through adjusting growth conditions, engineering host strains of E. coli, altering expression vectors, and modifying the proteins of interest. These approaches will be comprehensively highlighted with some of the new developments in this review. Additionally, the unique features of protein inclusion bodies, the mechanism and influencing factors of their formation, and their potential advantages will also be discussed.

Keywords: E. coli; industrial applications; protein folding; protein inclusion bodies; recombinant proteins.

Publication types

Review