US Patent 7858341 FGF18 production in prokaryotic hosts

The expression vectors and methods using an E. coli expression system for the large scale production of FGF18 are described. The vectors utilize the FGF18 coding sequence with specific changes in nucleotides in order to optimize codons and mRNA secondary structure for translation in E. coli. Using the expression vectors, the FGF18 gene was produced in E. coli to a level of greater than 1 g/L in fed batch fermentation. Also included are OmpT deficient E. coli strains, as well as OmpT and fhuA negative strains transformed with an FGF18 expression vector.