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Production and Secretion of Recombinant Proteins in Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract

We have expressed useful amounts of three recombinant proteins in a new eukaryotic host/vector system. The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum efficiently secreted two recombinant products, a soluble form of the normally cell surface associated D. discoideum glycoprotein (PsA) and the heterologous protein glutathione-S-transferase (GST) from Schistosoma japonicum, while the enzyme β-glucuronidase (GUS) from Escherichia coli was cell associated. Up to 20mg/l of recombinant PsA and 1mg/l of GST were obtained after purification from a standard, peptone based growth medium. The secretion signal peptide was correctly cleaved from the recombinant GST- and PsA-proteins and the expression of recombinant PsA was shown to be stable for at least one hundred generations in the absence of selection.

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Correspondence to Keith L. Williams.

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Dittrich, W., Williams, K. & Slade, M. Production and Secretion of Recombinant Proteins in Dictyostelium discoideum. Nat Biotechnol 12, 614–618 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0694-614

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