Expression of Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin in Escherichia coli using a two cistron system

Abstract

Expression of Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) has been achieved in Escherichia coli K-12. This involved the construction of a two cistron system where the first cistron was provided by the NH2-terminus (first 98 amino acids) of MS2 polymerase. When the FHA gene sequences were fused to the first cistron, higher levels of expression were obtained and the fusion protein aggregated in inclusion bodies. FHA expressed by the two cistron system, however, appeared to be diffusely dispersed in the cytoplasm.