An auto-inducible expression system based on the RhlI-RhlR quorum-sensing regulon for recombinant protein production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis>

An artificial network which can accomplish recombinant protein synthesis guided by cell population in E. coli was constructed. The successful functioning of this network requires two plasmids, pWNB and pET. pWNB is responsible for production of T7 RNA polymerase, which controls pET; pET, in turn, regulates the production of target proteins. Several model proteins were tested and the results show that this E. coli system can be used to efficiently express various recombinant proteins. Since system contains T7 RNA polymerase production elements, it is transferable and applicable to well-characterized E. coli strains. Compared to the IPTG-induced system, an equal or greater amount of target protein can be obtained using this auto-inducible expression system in flasks and bioreactors. Our results suggest that it is a competitive alternative to other expression systems used in labs or for industrial applications.