Characterization of the internal translation initiation region in monoclonal antibodies expressed in Escherichia coli

Published

October 11, 2019

Author(s)

Erik M. Leith, William Brad O'Dell, Na Ke, Colleen McClung, Mehmet Berkmen, Christina Bergonzo, Robert G. Brinson, Zvi Kelman

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent an important platform for the development of biotherapeutic products. While most mAbs are produced in mammalian cells, there are several examples of mAbs made in Escherichia coli, including therapeutic fragments. When the NISTmAb and adalumimab (Humira) were expressed in E. coli, a truncation of the heavy chain was observed. N-terminal sequencing and mutagenesis analysis indicated that the truncation is a result of internal translation initiation from a GTG codon. Using computational and biochemical approaches it was demonstrated that translation initiates from a weak Shine-Dalgarno sequence, and is facilitated by a putative ribosomal protein S1 binding site. This internal initiation region is likely an unintended result of codon optimization for E. coli expression, and the amino acid motif from which it is derived was identified. The implications for E. coli mAbs expression and codon optimization are discussed.

Citation

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Volume

294

Issue

48

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA119.011008

Local Download

Keywords

codon optimization, Escherichia coli, heterologous antibodies expression, mAbs, monoclonal antibodies, translation initiation, translation regulation

Citation

Leith, E. , O'Dell, W. , Ke, N. , McClung, C. , Berkmen, M. , Bergonzo, C. , Brinson, R. and Kelman, Z. (2019), Characterization of the internal translation initiation region in monoclonal antibodies expressed in Escherichia coli, Journal of Biological Chemistry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA119.011008, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=928631 (Accessed October 13, 2025)