Design and Construction of Recombinant ELP-Intein Cassette for Use in Simple and new Purification Methods of Recombinant Proteins

Background and Objective: Use of elastin-like proteins (ELPs) provides high-performance protein purification without need for chromatography. In line with cost reduction and facilitation of recombinant proteins purification, which represent a high percentage of production costs, in this project, we eliminated the need for proteases in the process of separation of recombinant proteins from ELP by designing a cassette using ELPs properties as well as insertion of autocatalytic intein protein between the recombinant protein and ELP. Methods: In this study, at first Mxe GyrA intein gene was amplified from pTXB1 vector by PCR method and cloned into pUC57-hEGF vector. Then, 8xELP repetitive sequences were first cloned in pUC57 vector and then into pUC57-intein-hEGF vector in the upstream of Intein-hEGF. Result: The design and construction stages of pUC57-8xELP-Intein-hEGF cassette was successful and the accuracy of 8xELP-Intein-hEGF was confirmed by sequencing. Conclusion: The use of ELP-intein cassette provides recombinant protein purification only with steps consisting of temperature, salt, and centrifugation, without need for proteolytic enzymes, and access to this technology provides the possibility of production and purification of recombinant proteins with minimum cost and facilities.