Recombinant Protein Expression in Microorganisms

Dear Colleagues,

Recombinant protein expression is a fundamental discipline in molecular biology, as well as a key technology to produce any specific protein for scientific and applied purposes. Today, virtually any protein from any origin can be recombinantly overproduced, and microorganisms are in many instances the preferred production hosts. Recombinant expression has been subject for intensive research for decades and yet still today there are fundamental aspects of this science we do not understand. Presumably, critical information is hidden in the gene coding sequences, beyond well-understood rules concerning rare codons and secondary structure formation at the mRNA level. Challenges can be at any level, including host-toxicity, product insolubility and non-functionality, poor translation, and lack of necessary post-translational modification. Genetic tools, superior hosts and new software are being rapidly developed for improved design, by taking all possible parameters (gene coding sequences, promoters, untranslated leaders regions, transcriptional terminators, mRNA stabilities, protein folding, translational efficiencies) into consideration. Still today, recombinant protein expression is largely a matter of trial and error.

In this Special Issue of Microorganisms, we invite you to send contributions concerning any aspects related to recombinant protein expression in microorganisms, including genetic tools developments, bioinformatics tools for better predictions of expression levels and protein solubility, methodologies for product detection and characterization, as well as systems biology driven and laboratory-evolution based strategies to better understand and create novel host strains (both eukaryotic and prokaryotic) for improved recombinant protein production. 

Prof. Dr. Trygve Brautaset
Prof. Dr. Svein Valla
Guest Editors

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