High-level biosynthesis of a silk-elastin-like protein in E. coli: fed batch production and antibiotic free selection

Abstract

[Introduction] Silk-elastin-like proteins (SELPs) are biopolymers composed of repetitive amino acid blocks commonly found in silk and elastin - They have a high potential for application in the pharmaceutical, regenerative medicine and materials fields - SELP use is limited by low production levels, with approximately 85 mg/L being the highest reported - Our previous studies with batch production approaches allowed for the production of 500 mg/L of purified SELP-59-A but with acetate accumulation and plasmid instability limiting further increased production