Secretion of human epidermal growth factor by Corynebacterium glutamicum

AIMS: To examine the secretion of human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) by Corynebacterium glutamicum. METHODS AND RESULTS: We recently showed that a novel protein-secretion system in C. glutamicum could produce Streptomyces mobaraensis transglutaminase. In the present study, the industrially important protein hEGF was secreted into the culture medium in a fully active form by C. glutamicum and accumulated at a rate of up to 156 mg l(-1) day(-1). CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated that the hEGF protein could be secreted in an active form by C. glutamicum. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Our data confirmed that the pharmaceutically important human protein hEGF could be efficiently secreted in an active form by the C. glutamicum protein-expression system. Moreover, we demonstrated that this bacterium has potential as a host for the industrial-scale production of human proteins.