Production of nano-protein particles in living cells

<p dir="ltr">The escalating demand for therapeutic proteins calls for advanced biomanufacturing and formulation strategies<br>to ensure efficient production and timely supply. Productions of therapeutic proteins, as well as many other<br>proteins, require high purity and stability. However, the manufacturing process is bottlenecked by the purifi-<br>cation process. We have established a novel platform leveraging the capabilities of living E. coli cells as cell<br>factory, for efficient synthesis (protein expression) and easy separation (protein particle formation) of a model<br>protein, Red Fluorescent Protein (mRFP). With the designed plasmid, the target protein (mRFP) was heterolo-<br>gously expressed inside cells, and directed to form protein particles, and the red fluorescence of these particles<br>proved their correct folding and bioavailability. Target protein production was validated through SDS-PAGE and<br>fluorescent microscopy. The cells with protein particles and the isolated protein particles were characterized by<br>SEM, optical and fluorescent microscopic. The new cell factory technology developed for mRFP production has<br>exhibited broad potential in advancing biomanufacturing, which can be further developed to enable the efficient<br>bioproduction of other therapeutic proteins and peptides.</p>