Mechanism of enhancement of prochymosin renaturation by solubilization of inclusion bodies at alkaline pH

The renaturation efficiency of recombinant prochymosin depends on not only the renaturation condi-tions but also the solubilization (denaturation) conditions. Compared with pH 8, solubilization of prochymosin-contain-ing inclusion bodies at pH 11 (8 mol/L urea) results in onefold increase of renaturation efficiency ( ~ 40% vs. ~ 20 % ). Alkaline pH facilitates the solubilization of inclusion bodies via the breakage of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Moreover, alkaline pH renders prochymosin molecules to be in a more reduced and more unfolded state which undergoes refolding readily.