Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative bacteria which is well known for its pathogenic properties that can cause serious food poisoning, mostly indicated by diarrhea or other severe symptoms. Despite of its well-known properties due to its ability to produce toxin, most of E. coli strains are harmless and even beneficial especially in recombinant protein production. This bacterium is suitable for protein recombinant host since it has rapid growth, high expression rate, and well-known genome. Various proteins have been produced using E. coli expression systems, with therapeutic protein for medical application being the most notably produced. Apart from that, our group succeeded in producing beta galactosidase from a wild type E. coli strain B130. Furthermore, recombinant human serum albumin was successfully produced using E. coli strains BL21 (DE3). However, studies on E. coli toxin contamination in recombinant protein productions, strains, and genomic comprehension are indispensable, particularly in therapeutic protein. Therefore, this chapter will discuss the safety aspects of recombinant therapeutic proteins in terms of toxin contamination by strain and genomic approaches.
Part of the book: E. Coli Infections