Expression of recombinant human inteleukin 6(rhIL6) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the midified phosphoglycerate kinase and chelatin promoter

Abstract

Using the modified yeast expression vectors that contained phosphoglycerate kinase or chelatin promoter with the adenine (A) base at -3 position from the ATG coding sequences and the leu-2 gene, recombinant human interleukin-6 (rhIL-6) was produced as a β-galactosidase (lacZ) fusion protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Expression level of the IL-6-lacZ was 12 times higher than that from the unmodified wild type plasmids and IL-6 activity was 9-9.8 x 105 unit/mg yeast total protein. Thus these modified yeast vectors are useful for high expression of foreign genes in yeast.