Recombinant proteins made in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a bacteria widely used in the laboratory due to its growth speed and few nutritional requirements. It is frequently used in genetic and molecular biology experiments, since the structure of its genome is quite flexible, allowing the mobility of genetic material through transposons, insertion sequences, bacteriophages and plasmids.

It is the most used expression system for the production of recombinant proteins for several reasons: its genome has been known for years, which facilitates its genetic manipulation; its physiology and metabolism are perfectly known; there are several well-known vectors for protein production; it can grow quickly in very simple means, giving very high levels of production at very low cost. However, it is limited for the production of proteins that require essential post-translational modifications for their folding, immunogenicity and antigenicity.