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Secretion of human insulin by a transformed yeast cell
Author(s) -
Thim Lars,
Hansen Mogens T.,
Sørensen Anders R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(87)81366-2
Subject(s) - yeast , secretion , insulin , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , endocrinology , biology
A yeast expression plasmid encoding a mini‐proinsulin molecule was constructed and transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae . The plasmid encoded the sequence: B‐Arg‐Arg‐Leu‐Gln‐Lys‐Arg‐A in which B represents the B‐chain (30 amino acid residues) and A represents the A‐chain (21 amino acid residues) of human insulin. The secreted peptides were shown to be a mixture of human insulin and des(B‐30)human insulin. Thus, correct disulphide bridges can be established in proinsulin‐like molecules devoid of a normal C‐peptide region. Furthermore, the specificity of the yeast processing enzymes is so similar to the proinsulin converting enzymes in the human pancreatic β‐cell that it allows the processing of the mini‐proinsulin to insulin.