NOVEL VECTOR

Abstract: A vector containing genetic information necessary for starting transcription and translation and a signal of starting translation (ATG or GTG), which is suitable for incorporating a peptide-coding DNA segment and effectively producing the peptide, a process for its preparation, and its utilization.

Description: Specification Novel Vector Technical Field The present invention relates to a novel plasmid expression vector, a process for producing the same and its use. More specifically, the present invention relates to an expression vector which contains genetic information necessary for initiation of transcription and translation and initiation codon for translation (ATG or GTG) and which is preferable for expressing effectively an incorporated DNA fragment coding for a polypeptide. A process for producing such expression vector and use of the same are included in the present invention. Background Art In recent years, research and technology on recombinant DNA have been developed and application thereof to industries has become available. It is important to develop a process for incorporating a foreign gene to a plasmid vector and for synthesizing effectively a polypeptide encoded on the foreign gene in a host microorganism. Various methods have been developed to express effectively foreign genes in host microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. In order to elevate the transcription rate, lac promoter, trp promoter, etc. were used as a promoter which is genetic information necessary for the initiation of transcription. Further, in order to elevate the translation rate, a recombinant was constructed wherein the distance between the ribosome binding site and the initiation codon for translation (mainly ATG) was adjusted. The latter is disadvantageous because, in order to adjust the distance between the ribosome binding site and the initiation codon, the use of a special "synthetic DNA" as a joint to incorporate a foreign gene after attach ing the initiation codon ATG downstream from the promoter, the use of DNA modification enzymes such as DNA polymerase I, S1 nuclease and BAL-31 nuclease, or the use of "synthetic DNA" having special base sequence is required. Disclosure of the Invention To improve the known plasmid vectors, the present inventors have developed a plasmid vector having ATG at an appropriate site downstream from promoter SD and cleavable leaving ATG and completed the present invention. The present invention is described in detail below. The expression vector of the present invention contains a promoter which is genetic information necessary for the initiation of transcription, an initiation codon for translation (ATG or GTG) residing at an appropriate position downstream from the ribosome binding site which is genetic information necessary for the initiation of translation and which is named the Shine Dalgarno sequence, abbreviated as "SD sequence", in the case of Escherichia coli, and recognition sequence of a restriction enzyme such as SphI, EcoRV, KpnI or SacI to be left as 3'-protruding end after cleavage with the restriction enzyme following the initiation codon. As the promoter of the expression vector of the present invention, any promoters having promoter activity are applicable. Preferably, the promoter of lactose operon, that of tryptophane operon and that of alkaline phosphatase operon are used. As the initiation codon for translation, ATG or GTG is employed. Translation is possible when the distance between the SD sequence and the initiation codon is 2 - 20 base pairs (bp). Examples of the recognition sequence of a restriction enzyme to be left as 3'-protruding end following the initiation codon are ATGCATGC wherein the initiation codon ATG and the recognition sequence of SphI overlap, ATGATATC wherein ATG and the recognition sequence of EcoRV overlap, ATGGTACC wherein ATG and the recognition sequence of KpnI overlap and ATGAGCTC wherein ATG and the recognition sequence of SacI overlap. The vector wherein the initiation codon ATG and the SphI cleavage site (GCATGC) overlap is selected as an example of the vector having the structure mentioned above and the scheme of the structure around the promoter and the SD sequence is illustrated in Fig. 1. Further, cleavage patterns of the restriction enzymes mentioned above the recognition site of which overlaps with the initiation codon ATG are illustrated in Fig. 2. Construction of the plasmid vector of the present invention is described in detail using the tryptophane promoter of Escherichia coli as an example. In the present invention, genetic information necessary for the initiation of transcription and the initiation of translation is not restricted to that derived from prokaryotes but may be derived from eukaryotes such as yeast and higher animals. However, to facilitate the understanding, the following description is made mainly with reference to Escherichia coli which is a prokaryote clarified in detail as to the mechanism of transcription and translation. As a source of the DNA containing trp promoter, pKYP100 which is a derivative of pKYP10 bearing a trp portable promoter (Japanese Patent Application No. 213193/ 81, U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 452,290, European Patent Application No. 82111895.7) is used. The methods of producing pKYP10 and pKYP100 are described in Reference Examples 1 and 2 below. pKYP100 8 (8 refers to the number in Fig. 6, the same shall apply hereinafter) is cleaved at the ClaI site existing just downstream from the SD sequence of trpL gene (see Fig. 6). pKYP100 is then cleaved again at the SphI site existing in the tetracycline resistance gene and the larger plasmid DNA fragment 9 is purified by agarose gel electrophoresis. Separately, two oligonucleotides are synthesized which have complementary base sequences ligatable with each other to make a DNA fragment 10 which has a structure ligatable with the DNA fragment 9 and an initiation codon for translation (ATG or GTG) at an appropriate distance downstream from the SD sequence followed by a recognition sequence of a restriction enzyme to be left as 3'-protruding end. The thus-obtained DNA fragment is ligated with the purified plasmid DNA fragment 9 to obtain the desired expression vector 11. Reaction conditions required for preparing the recombinant plasmid are as follows. Digestion of the DNA with restriction enzymes is usually carried out by reacting 0.1 to 100 g of DNA with 0.1-300 units, preferably 1-3 units of restriction enzyme per 1 ug of DNA in a mixture of 2 - 200 mM, preferably 10 40 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.0-9.5, preferably pH 7.0-8.0), 1150 mM NaCl and 2 - 20 mM, preferably 5 - 10 mM MgCl2 at 18 - 420C, preferably 32 - 38 C for 15 minutes to 24 hours. Reaction is usually stopped by heating at 55 - 75 C, pre erably 63 - 70 C for 5-30 minutes, or alternatively by inactivating the restriction enzyme with the reagent such as phenol or diethylpyrrocarbonate. Oligonucleotides are synthesized by the diethyl phosphate method [H.G. Khorana et al.: J. Mol. Biol., 72, 209 (1972)l, the phosphotriester method [R. Crea.et al.: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 75, 5765 (l978)] or the phosphite method [M.D. Matteucci et al.: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 103, 3185 (1981)1. Phosphory- lation of the synthesized oligonucleotide is carried out with 0.1-100 units of T4 ribonucleotide kinase in a mixture of 2 - 200 mM, preferably 10 - 70 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.0-9.5, preferably pH 7.0-8.0), 3 - 20 mM, preferably 4 - 10 mM MgC12 and 1 - 10 mM dithiothreitol at 20 - 400C, preferably 35 - 380C for 5 minutes to 2 hours. Ligation of the DNA fragments is carried out with 0.1-10-units of T4DNA ligase in a mixture of 2 - 200 mM, preferably 10 - 70 mH Tris-HCl (pH 6.0-9.5, preferably 7.0-8.0), 2 - 29 mM, preferably 5-10 mM MgCl21 0.1 -10 mM, preferably 0.5-2 mM ATP and I - 50 mM, preferably 5 - 10 mM dithiothreitol at 1 - 37bC, preferably 3-200C for 15 minutes to 72 hours, preferably 2 - 20 hours. The plasmid expression vector of the present invention can be prepared in the manner described above. Alternatively, instead of the cleavage of pKYP100 with ClaI, it is possible to cleave pKYP100 at the HindIII site just downstream from the ClaI site and then at the SphI site to insert the synthetic nucleotide. When the recognition sequence of restriction enzyme to be overlapped with the initiation codon for translation is absent on pRYP100, for example, KpnI: GGTACC and SacI: GAGCTC, two species of oligonucleotides including such recognition sequence are synthesized and inserted into pKYPlOO between the Clal site or HindIIf site and BamHI site or SalI site. pKYP100 is a derivative of pKYP10. pKYP10 is a plasmid containing a trp promoter and described in Japanese Patent Application No. 213193/81. Construction of pKYP100 from pKYP10 is carried out in the following manner. As illustrated in Fig. 5, plasmid pKYP10 1 is digested with HhaI and a DNA fragment 2 of about 180 bp containing a trp promoter is purified by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The DNA fragment 2 is treated with Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I lenow fragment to cut 3'-protruding end formed by HhaI digestion to make it flush end. After digestion with HindIII, a DNA fragment 3 of about 100 bp containing a trp promoter is purified by polyacrylamide electrophoresis. Separately, plasmid pBR322 5 is digested with EcoRI and the resulting sticky end is changed to flush end by repairing synthesis reaction with Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I. After digestion with HindIII, the larger plasmid DNA fragment 6 is purified by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis. The purified DNA fragments 3 and 6 are ligated with 5'-phophorylated XhoI linker (pCCTCGAGG) 4 using T4DNA ligase to obtain plasmid pKYP100 7. In the production of the vector of the present invention mentioned above, a cleavage site existing just downstream from the SD sequence is used. However, even if such cleavage site is absent, the desired expression vector can also be produced. For example, when a cleavage site existing upstream from the promoter is used, an oligonucleotide containing all of promoter, ribosome-binding site and initiation codon for translation (ATG or GTG) is synthesized and cloned in a plasmid vector such as PBR322. The tryptophane promoter of Escherichia coli used as a promoter for the initiation of transcription can be replaced with other Escherichia coli promoters. In the case where organism cells other than Escherichia coli are used as the cell for the expression of foreign genes, a promoter suitable for the cell is used. When the promoter of organisms other than Escherichia coli is used, it is necessary to replace the base sequence corresponding to the ribosome binding site of Escherichia coli with the base sequence containing the genetic information required for the initiation of translation. The expression vector obtained as above is cleaved with restriction enzymes such as SphI, EcoRV, Kpnl and SacI and is used to insert a foreign gene just after the initiation codon by suitable means, for example, (1) by changing the 3'-protruding end to flush end using 3T > 5' exonuclease activity of DNA polymerase I Rlenow fragment followed by the insertion of the foreign gene (see Fig. 3) or (2) by attaching a homopolymer block (polydA, polydT, pdlydG or polydC) to the 3'-protruding end using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase followed by the insertion of the foreign gene with a homopolymer block complementary to that mentioned above (see Fig. 4). The foreign gene can be expressed effectively by culturing a host microorganism containing the thus obtained recombinant. The foregoing description refers to Escherichia coli on which molecular biological studies are most advanced. However, the use of the present invention is not restricted to Escherichia coli but also applicable to prokaryotes other than Escherichia coli and eukaryotes such as yeast and higher animals. That is, a plasmid expression vector applicable to other prokaryotes such as Bacillus subtilis can be constructed by maintaining the structure downstream from the initiation codon, replacing the promoter and the ribosome binding site of Escherichia coli with those of the prokaryote and attaching genetic information required for the replication and maintenance of the plasmid vector in the prokaryote. Further, although the mechanisms of transcription and translation in eukaryotes are not clarified in detail, the plasmid expression vector applicable to the eukaryotes can be constructed by replacing the promoter of Escherichia coli with genetic information for the initiation of transcription and the ribosome binding site of Escherichia coli with genetic information for the initiation of translation and attaching genetic information required for the replication and maintenance of the plasmid vector in the eukaryotes. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a scheme of one of the vectors of the present invention wherein the initiation codon for translation ATG and the SphI cleavage site (GCATGC) overlap. Fig. 2 shows the restriction patterns suitable for the vector of the present invention. Fig. 3 shows the process for inserting a foreign gene into the vector of the present invention using DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment. Fig. 4 shows the process for inserting a foreign gene into the vector of the present invention using terminal transferase. Fig. 5 shows the process for constructing plasmid pKYP100. In the drawing, 1 refers to plasmid pKYP10, 2 refers to the DNA fragment of about 180 bp containing trp promoter, 3 refers to the DNA fragment of about 100 bp containing trp promoter, 4 refers to XhoI linker, 5 refers to plasmid pBR322, 6 refers to a DNA fragment of PBR322 and 7 refers to plasmid pKYP100. Fig. 6 shows the process for constructing plasmid pTrS3. In the drawing, 8 refers to plasmid PRYP100, 9 refers to the fragment of about 3.82 Kb of pKYP100, 10 refers to double stranded DNA formed by the annealing of two synthesized oligonucleotides and 11 refers to plasmid pTrS3. Fig. 7 shows the process for constructing pKYP-5. Fig. 8 shows the process for constructing pKYP-lO. Fig. 9 shows the process for constructing pFJ-123. Fig. 10 shows the process for constructing pFM-9. Fig. 11 (A) shows the process for constructing pKYP-ll and (B) the structure of pKYP-12. Fig. 12 shows the process for constructing pLE-3. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention The methods of constructing and utilizing the vector of the present invention are described in detail in the following examples. Example 1 Construction of plasmid vector pTrS3 bearing the initiation codon for translation ATG and SphI cleavage site downstream from the trp promoter and the ribosome binding site: pTrS3 is obtained from pKYP100 constructed as in Reference Example 2 in the following manner. 5 vg of pKYP100 8 was allowed to react with 5 units of CalI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) in 20 p1 of a reaction solution containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 7 mM MgCl2 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. The reaction was stopped by heating at 650C for 5 minutes. 2 ul of 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 70 mAI MgCl2, 1.0 M NaCl, 60 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 16 ul of distilled water and 7 units of SphI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) were added and the mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. The reaction was stopped by heating at 650C for 5 minutes and the larger plasmid DNA fragment 9 (about 3.82 Kb) was purified by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis (LGT-AGE) [Lars Wieslander: Analytical Biochemistry 98, 305 (1979)]. Separately, two species of oligonucleotides 5' CGATAAGCTATGCATG-3' and 5'-CATAGCTTAT-3' were synthetized by the phosphotriester method. The two synthesized oligonucleotides were 5'-phosphorylated and 20 uM each of the oligonucleotides were mixed with 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 100 mM NaCl and 1 mM EDTA. The mixture was incubated at 650C for 10 minutes, at 370C for 120 minutes and at room temperature for 120 minutes to anneal them. The two DNA chains were annealed as illustrated below. pCGATAAGCTATGCATG TATTCGATACp Both ends of the resulting DNA fragment can be ligated with the DNA fragment having sticky ends formed by digestion with ClaI or SphI and the ligated DNA has Clal cleavage site or SphI cleavage site to be reconstructed. The annealed DNA 10 of the two oligonucleotides and the plasmid DNA fragment 9 purified as above were mixed and ligated with T4DNA ligase. That is, 1 pM each of the two oligonucleotides, pCGATAAGCTATGCATG and pCATAGCTTAT were annealed and about 0.15 ug of the purified plasmid DNA fragment 9 was added. Then, 0.5 unit of T4DNA ligase (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) was added and the mixture was allowed to react in 20 1 of a reaction solution containing 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 10 mM MgC12, 10 mM dithiothreitol and 0.5 mM ATP at 40C for 16 hours. Escherichia coli HB101 was transformed with the resulting recombinant plasmid DNA. Plasmid DNAs were isolated from the thus obtained transformant resistant to ampicillin and sensitive to tetracycline (ApRTcS) and purified. These plasmid DNAs were digested with EcoRI, XhoI and PstI (products of Takara Shuzo Co.), and ClaI and SphI (products of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) to recognize the formation of the desired plasmid vector pTrS3 11. It was recognized by the method of Maxam and Gilbert [A. M. Maxam et al.: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 74, 560 (1977)1 that the base sequence of the DNA between the ClaI site and SphI site of pTrS3 was ATCGATAAGCTATGCATGC. Escherichia coli containing pTrS3 was deposited with the Fermentation Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (Ibaraki-ken, Japan) on September 29, 1982 as Escherichia coli ITrS-3 FERM P-6735. The deposit was transferred to the international deposit on July 26, 1983 and assigned accession number FERM BP-328. Example 2 Expression of afl interferon-B (referred to as IFN-B hereinafter) derivative wherein an additional methionine is attached to the N-terminal of IFN-B: A recombinant plasmid expressing an IFN-ss derivative wherein an additional methionine was attached to IFN-S before the N-terminal methionine was obtained in the following manner using the expression vector pTrS-3 constructed in Example 1. 10 ug of pTrS-3 was reacted with 10 units of SphI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) in 40 p1 of a reaction solution containing 10 mM Tris-HCI (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. After the reaction, the reaction mixture was subjected to phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 40 ul of a mixture containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 7 mM MgCl2, 10 mM 2-mercaptpethanol, 0.25 mM dATP, 0.25 mM dCTP, 0.25 mM dGTP and 0.25 mM dTTP followed by addition of 4 units of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment (product of Bethesda Research Laboratories Inc.). The mixture was allowed to react at 150C for 2 hours. After the reaction, the mixture was subjected to phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 30 p1 of a mixture containing 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol followed by addition of 16 units of EcoRI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.). The mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. After digestion with EcoRI, the smaller plasmid DNA fragment (about 130 bp) was purified by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis. Then, 5 pg of a recombinant plasmid pLE-3 bearing IFN-S gene was reacted with 10 units of ClaI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) in 30 1 of a reaction solution containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. The structure around the ClaI site of pLE-3 is as follows. EMI11.1 The reaction mixture was subjected to phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 30 vl of a mixture containing 50 mM Tris-HCl, 7 mM MgC12, 10 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.25 mM dATP and 0.25 mM dTTP followed by addition of 12 units of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (product of New England Biolabs). The mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 30 minutes. By the reaction, 5'-protruding end formed by ClaI digestion was changed to flush end by 5' - )3' exonuclease activity of DNA polymerase I. EMI12.1 In the reaction, dATP and dTTP were added to prevent the digestion of the end of the DNA in the direction of 3' 5' by the 3' 5' exonuclease activity of DNA polymerase I. The flush end mentioned above was obtained in a ratio of 2 - 205. The reaction solution was subjected to phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 30 ul of a mixture containing 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol and 16 units of EcoRI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) was added. The mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. After the digestion with EcoRi, the larger plasmid DNA fragment (about 5.1 Kb) was purified by low-gellingtemperature agarose gel electrophoresis. About 40 ng of the DNA fragment of about 130 bp containing trp promoter, SD sequence and ATG codon and about 150 ng of the DNA fragment of about 5.1 Kb containing IFN-a gene thus obtained were reacted with I unit of T4DNA ligase in 20 ul of a mixture of 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 10 mM MgC12, 10 mM dithiothreitol and 0.5 mM ATP at 40C for 20 hours. Escherichia coli liBlOl [H. Boyer et al.: J. Molec. Biolo., 41, 459 (1969)] was transformed with the thus obtained recombinant plasmid DNA in a conventional manner. The plasnid DNA pFJ-123 in an ApRTcS transformant strain was isolated and purified in a conventional manner as illustrated in Fig. 9. The structure of pF-123 was determined bv agarose gel electrophoresis after the digestion with restriction enzymes EcoRi, XhoI, PstI and BamHI (products of Takara Shuzo Co.) and ClaI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH). Escherichia coli HB101 containing recombinant plasmid pFJ-123 was named IFJ-123. Interferon productivity of IFJ-123 was examined in the following manner. The strain was cultured at 370C for 18 hours in LG medium containing 10 g of tryptone, 5 g of yeast extract, 5 g of NaCl, 1 g of glucose and 1 Q of water and adjusted to pH 7.2 with NaOH. 0.2 ml of the cultured medium was inoculated in 10 ml of MCG medium (pH 7.2) containing 0.6% Ma2HPO4, ¯0.3% KH2PO4, 0.5% Nail, 0.1% NH4C1, 0.5% glucose, 0.5% casamino acid, 1 mM MgSO4 and 4 vg/ml thiamine hydrochloride and cultured at 300C for 4-8 hours. 10 which indole acrylic acid (referred to as IAA hereinafter) which is an inducer of the tryptophane gene was added and the culturing was continued for 5 - 12 hours. The cultured medium was subjected to centrifugation at 8,000 rpm for 10 minutes and the harvested cells were washed with a buffer solution (pH 7.5) of 30 mM Tris HCl containing 30 mM NaCl. The washed cells were suspended in 1 ml of the buffer solution mentioned above and 200 ug of lysozyme and 5 ul of 0.25 M EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetate) were added. The mixture was allowed to stand at OOC for 30 minutes. Freezing and melting were repeated three times to disrupt the cells. The disrupted cells were subjected to centrifugation at 15,000 rpm for 30 minutes and the supernatant was recovered. The interferon in the supernatant was determined according to the method of Armstrong [J. A. Armstrong: Appl. Microbiol. 21, 723 - 725 (1971)) using Vesicular Stomatitis Virus as a virus and Wish Cell derived from human amnion cells as an animal cell. The determination of interferon revealed that the strain produced 3 x 109 units/ interferon. The base sequence around the SD sequence and ATG in the plasmid pFJ-123 in IFJ-l23 strain as determined by the method of Maxam and Gilbert is as follows. AAGGGTATCGATAAGCTATGATG SD Escherichia coli containing pFJ-123 was deposited with the Fermentation Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology on January 24, 1983 as Escherichia coli IFJ-123 FERM P-6882. Process for producing pFJ-123 mentioned above is illustrated in Fig. 9. Example 3 Expression of an IFN-ss derivative wherein Nterminal amino acid is deleted: A recombinant plasmid expressing an IFN-S derivative wherein several N-terminal amino acids were deleted was obtained in the following manner using the expression vector pTrS-3 constructed in Example 1. 15 ug of pLE-3 was digested with 20 units of CiaI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH) in 100 1 of a reaction solution containing 10 m14 Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. The reaction solution was subjected to phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 30 ul of 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) - 0.5 mM EDTA. 6 i of the DNA solution containing about 3 ;g of DNA, 13 yl of distilled water and 5 ul of a buffer solution containing 60 mM CaCl2, 60 mM MgCI2, 3 M NaCI, 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.1) and 5 mM EDTA were mixed and 0.5 unit of exonuclease BAL31 (product of New England Biolabs) was added. The mixture was allowed to react at 30 C for 3 minutes to remove 1-30 bp from both ClaI ends of the DNA. The reaction was stopped by phenol extraction and subsequently chloroform extraction and ethanol preci- pitation were carried out. The precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 20 ul of a mixture of 100 mM Tris-HC1 (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 7 m. MgCl2 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol and 8 units of EcoRI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) was added. The mixture wa-s allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. After the digestion with EcoRI, the larger plasmid DNA fragment of about 5.1 Rb was purified by low-gellingtemperature agarose gel electrophoresis. About 150 ng of the thus obtained DNA fragment of about 5.1 Kb containing IFN-B gene and about 40 ng of the DNA fragment of about 130 bp prepared in Example 2 and containing trp promoter, SD sequence and ATG codon were ligated with 1 unit of T4DNA ligase (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) in 20 ul of a reaction solution containing 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 10 mM MgCl2, 10 mM dithiothreitol and 0.5 mM ATP. The mixture was allowed to react at 40C for 20 hours. Escherichia coli HB101 was transformed with the thus obtained recombinant plasmid DNA in a conventional manner. The plasmid pFM-9 in the obtained ApRTcS transformant was isolated and purified in a conventional manner as illustrated in Fig. 10. The structure of pFM-9 was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis after the digestion with restriction enzymes EcoRi, XhoI, PstI, BamHI and ClaI. Escherichia coli HB101 containing the recombinant plasmid pFM-9 was named IFM-9. Interferon productivity of IFM-9 was examined as in Example 2. The strain produced 7 3 x 10 units interferon. The strain was deposited with the Fermentation Research Institute, Agency pf Industrial Science and Technology on January 24, 1983 as Escherichia coli IFM-9 FERM P-6883. The recombinant plasmid contained in this strain was named pFM-9. Process for producing pFJ-173 mentioned above is illustrated in Fig. 10. The base sequence around the SD sequence and ATG in the plasmid pFM-9 in Escherichia coli IFM-9 as determined by the method of Maxam and Gilbert is as follows. AAGGGTATCGATAAGCTATGGATTC SD It was confirmed that pFM-9 contains the gene coding for IFN-6 wherein the five amino acids following the N-terminal Met [Ser Tyr Asn Leu Leu] are deleted. Reference Example 1 Construction of a plasmid vector pRYP10 having a trp promoter: (a) Purification of tryptophane transducing phage DNA: A #ptrp phage, Ac1857trpED10 (referred to as #trp ED hereinafter) (G F. Miazzari et al.: J. Bacteriol. 133, 1457 (1978)1 was lysogenized in Escherichiacoli JA 194 strain (F-, #-, &gamma;k-, mk-, #trp E5, leu6) [J. Carbon et al.: Recombinant Molecules p.355 (1977), Raven Press]. The resultant lysogenic strain, JA 194 ( Atrp ED) was cultured at 420C for 30 minutes to induce Atrp ED phages and prepare Xphage lysate. The Aphages were purified from the Xphage lysate by the cesium chloride equilibrium density gradient centrifugation of Yamakawa et al.: "Chemicals of Nucleic Acids I" Tokyo Ragaku Dojin, p.54-61 (1974). The Aphages were further purified by phenol treatment and chloroform treatment according to the method of Yamakawa et al.: "Chemicals of Nucleic Acids I" Tokyo Kagaku Dojin, p. 62 - 65 (1974). (b) Cloning of the trp promoter into a plasmid: Cloning of the trp operon from Atrp ED phage DNA was carried out in the following manner. That is, 8 g of Atrp ED DNA was digested at 370C for 2 hours with 16 units of EcoRI (product of Takara Shuzo Co., the same shall apply hereinafter) and 16 units of HindIII (product of Takara Shuzo Co., the same shall apply hereinafter) in 20 mM Tris HCl (pH 7.5), 75 mM NaCI, 10 mM MgC12 and 5 mM dithiothreitol. Separately, 1 vg of plasmid pBR325 DNA was digested with 2 units of EcoRI and 2 units of HindIll by the same method as mentioned above (final volume: 30 1). The reactions were stopped by heating at 650C for 5 minutes. Then, 15 ul each of the digests were mixed and 500 uM (final concentration) ATP and 5 units of T4DNA ligase (product of New England Biolabs) were added. The mixture was allowed to react at 40C for 18 hours. Escherichia coli C600 SF strain, Cameron et al.: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 72, 3416 (1975) was transformed with the obtained plasmid mixture by the method of S. -N. Cohen et al.: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 69, 2110 (1972) and transformants which were resistant to ampicillin (ApR), resistant to tetracycline (TcR) and sensitive to chloramphenicol (Cm) were selected. Plasmid DNAs were isolated from the transformants of Escherichia coli. One of the plasmid DNAs was named pKYP-1. The plasmid pKYP-l was digested with TaqI and EcoRI and the digest was subjected to purification by agarose gel electrophoresis to obtain a 2.6 Kb tKilobase; the same shall apply hereinafter) DNA fragment containing the tryptophane promoter and SD sequence. The 2.6 Kb DNA fragment was clonedina knownvector,pBR322, by the method as illustrated in Fig. 7. That is, 8 Vg of pBR322 was digested at 450C for 60 minutes with 2 units of TaqI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) in 100 ul of a reaction mixture comprising 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.4), 6 mM MgCl2, 100 mM NaCl and 6 mS 2-mercaptoethanol. After partial digestion with TaqI, the digest was subjected to low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis [Lars Wieslander: Analytical Biochemistry 98, 305 (1979)] to obtain a purified 4.36 Kb DNA fragment. About 1.5 ug of the DNA fragment was completely digested at 370C for 3 hours with 3 units of EcoRI. About 1.0 ug of an about 4.33 Kb DNA fragment was recovered by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis in a similar manner as above. Then, 12 ug of pKYP-l DNA was partially digested with 3 units of TaqI, the digest was subjected to low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis to obtain about 2 vg of a purified 8.5 Kb DNA fragment and the DNA was completely digested with EcoRI by the same procedure as above to obtain about 0.5 ug of a purified 2.6 Kb DNA fragment. Then, 0.4 vg of the 4.33 Kb DNA of pBR322 and 0.25 ug of the 2.6 Kb DNA fragment of pKYP-l thus obtained were added to 20 ul of a reaction solution consisting of 20 mM Tris-HC1 (pH 7.6), 10 mM MgC12 and 10 mM dithiothreitol. Then, 0.5 mM ATP and 4 units of T4DNA ligase were added to the mixture and reaction was carried out at 40C for 18 hours. Escherichia coli C600 SF8 strain was transformed with the recombinant plasmid DNA obtained as above. The plasmids in the transformant having ApR and TcR were isolated. The plasmid DNA was digested with 6 restriction endonucleases, EcoRI, HindII, ClaI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH), HpaI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.), HincII (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) and BamHI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) to analyze the structure of the plasmid. The plasmid was named pRYP-5. (c) Preparation of a portable promoter from the trp promoter: The plasmid vector pKYP-5 mentioned above is applicable as a DNA introducing vector since it has a ClaI site and a HindIll site on the DNA of 1 to 20 base pairs downstream from the SD sequence. However, another Clal site is present in pKYP-5 DNA besides the ClaI site immediately after the SD sequence and the fragment with the trp promoter obtained by cutting pKYP-i DNA with EcoRI and HindIII is a little too large, i.e. 2.65 Kb. For convenience of use, pSYP-5 was improved by the process as illustrated in Fig. 8 to obtain a plasmid having a DNA fragment containing a shorter tryptophane promoter. That is, pffYP-5 DNA was digested with HpaII and HindIII and the digest was purified to obtain a DNA fragment of about 340 bp (base pairs). The fragment was inserted into the pBR322 digested with ClaI and Hindill as illustrated in Fig. 6 to obtain cRYP-10. The structure of pKYP-l0 was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis after the digestion with EcoRI, ClaI, HindIII and HpaI. (d) Connection of two or more trp promoters: In order to construct a plasmid vector having a stronger promoter activity, two trp promoters were inserted into the vector. That is, the DNA fragment of about 340 bp containing the trp promoter mentioned in step (c) aboye was inserted into the pKYP-10 digested with ClaI and HindIII to obtain pKYP-11 as illustrated in Fig. 11 (A). The same procedure was repeated to construct pKYP-12 illustrated in Fig. 11 (B) wherein three trp promoters were connected at the same orientation. The structure of pKYP-12 was confirmed by digestion with EcoRI, ClaI, HindIII and HpaI. Reference Example 2 Construction of pKYP100: pKYP100 7 which is more convenient for the construction of the plasmid vector of the present invention was constructed as illustrated in Fig. 5. As the source of DNA containing trp promoter, plasmid pKYP10' 1 (Japanese Patent Application 213193/81, see Fig. 5) bearing a trp portable promoter was used. 50 ug of pKYP10 was digested with 50 units of HhaI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) in 100 > 1 of a reaction solution containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. After digestion with HhaI, a DNA fragment of about 180 bp containing trp promoter was purified by 5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [A. M. Maxam et al.: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 74, 560 (1977), referred to as PAGE hereinafter]. In the purification step, two DNA fragments other than the desired DNA were obtained because of incomplete purification by PAGE. The three purified DNA fragments (total amount: about 4 ug) were allowed to react with 8 units of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I . Klenow fragment (product of Bethesda Research Laboratories Inc.) in 30 p1 of a reaction solution containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 7 mM MgC12, 10 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.25 mM dATP, 0.25 mM dCTP, 0.25 EM dGTP and 0.25 mM dTTP at 150C for 2 hours. By the reaction, the 3'-protruding end formed by HhaI digestion was changed to flush end by the 3' - > 5' exonuclease activity and 5' )3' repairing synthesis activity of DNA polymerase I . Klenow fragment. Subsequently, DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment was inactivated by heating at 720C for 30 minutes and the NaCl concentration was adjusted to 50 mM with 1 M Nazi. 8 units of EindIII (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) was added and the mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. After digestion with HindIII, the DNA fragment of about 100 bp containing trp promoter was isolated and purified by PAGE. Separately, 5 ug of plasmid pBR322 was digested with 8 units of EcoRI (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) in 20 ul of a reaction solution containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 50 mM Nail, 7 mM MgC12 and 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol at 370C for 2 hours. After phenol and chloroform extraction and ethanol precipitation, the precipitated DNA fragment was dissolved in 20 p1 of a mixture of 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 7 mM MgC12, 6 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.25 mM dATP, 0.25 mM dCTP and 0.25 mM dTTP. Then, 8 units of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment (product of Bethesda Research Laboratories Inc.) was added and the mixture was allowed to react at 150C for 2 hours. The 5'-protruding end formed by EcoRI digestion was changed to flush end by the repairing synthesis activity of DNA polymerase I Klenow fragment. DNA polymerase I. Klenow fragment was inactivated by heating at 720C for 30 minutes and the NaCl concentration was adjusted to 50 mM with 1 M NaCl. 8 units of HindIII (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) was added and the mixture was allowed to react at 370C for 2 hours. After digestion with HindIII, the larger plasmid DNA fragment of about 4.33 Kb was purified by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis. About 50 ng of the DNA fragment 3 of about 100 bp containing trp promoter and obtained above, about 0.2 g of the DNA fragment 6 of about 4.33 Xb derived from pBR322 and obtained above, and 50 ng of 5'-phosphorylated XhoI linker (pCCTCGAGG, product of Collaborative Research) were ligated with 1 unit of T4DNA ligase (product of Takara Shuzo Co.) in 20 > 1 of a reaction solution containing 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.6), 10 mM MgCl2, 10 mM dithiothreitol and 0.5 mM ATP at 40C for 40 hours. Escherichia coli HB101 was transformed with the thus obtained recombinant plasmid DNA and plasmid DNAs were isolated and purified from the ApRTcR transformants. These plasmid DNAs were digested with 8 restriction enzymes EcoRI, XhoI, HindlII and HaeIII (products of Takara Shuzo Co.), ClaI (product of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH), TaqI (product of Bethesda Research Laboratories) and RsaI (product of New England Biolabs) to select the plasmid wherein the DNA fragment 3 of about 100 bp containing the trp promoter and XhoI linker 4 were cloned, which was named pKYP100 7. Reference Example 3 Construction of pLE-3: Plasmid pTuIFNss-5, isolated from ATCC 31879 by conventional technique, was digested with HindIII. The digest was treated with DNA polymerase I (product of New England Biolabs) and subjected to ligation to obtain pTuIFNssH-5 illustrated in Fig. 12. The IFN-ss gene recovered from pTuIFNssH-5 was then cloned in the plasmid pKYP-12 having a trp promoter. That is, 2 ug of pKYP-12 DNA was digested with 4 units of ClaI in 30 > 1 of a buffer solution consisting of 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 6 mM MgCl2 and 5 mM dithiothreitol (referred to as Cla buffer hereinafter) at 370C for 2 hours. NaCl was added to a final concentration of 100 mM and the reaction was continued at 370C for 2 hours. The mixture was heated at 650C for 5 minutes to inactivate the enzyme and was then subjected to low-gellingtemperature agarose gel electrophoresis to obtain 1.2 ug of a purified DNA fragment of about 5 Kb containing the trp promoter. Separately, 15 ug of nTuIFNssH-5 DNA was digested with ClaI and BamHI and purified by low-gelling-temperature agarose gel electrophoresis as described above to obtain about 1 ug of a DNA fragment (1.1 Kb) containing the IEN-S gene. The two DNA fragments obtained as above and illus trated as 5 Kb and 1.1 Kb in Fig. 12 were dissolved in a mixture of 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 6 mM MgC12, 5 mM dithiothreitol and 500 uM ATP. 4 units of T4DNA ligase was added and the mixture was allowed to react at 40C for 18 hours. Escherichia coli Hub101 was transformed with the thus obtained mixture of the recombinants by conventional technique to obtain ApR colonies. Plasmids were recovered from the culture of the colonies. One of the plasmids is pLE-3 illustrated in Fig. 12. The structure of pLE-3 was confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis after the digestion of DNA with ClaI, EcoRI, HindIII and BamHI. It was confirmed by the method of Maxam & Gilbert, [A. M. Maxam, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 74, 560 (19t7)l that the base sequence from the SD sequence, AAGG, to the initiation codon, ATG, in the plasmid pLE-3 was "AAGGGTATC-GATG". Escherichia coli containing the plasmid pLE-3 has been deposited with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) as Escherichia coli ILE-3, ATCC 39010.

Claims: Claims 1. An expression vector having a promoter, a ribosome binding site and an initiation codon for translation followed by a recognition sequence of a restriction enzyme to be left as 3'-protruding end after cleavage with the restriction enzyme. 2. The expression vector according to Claim 1, wherein the initiation codon for translation is ATG or GTG. 3. The expression vector according to Claim 1, wherein the restriction enzyme is SphI, EcoRV, KpnI or SacI. 4. The expression vector according to Claim 1, wherein the promoter is derived from a prokaryote. 5. The expression vector. according to Claim 4, wherein the promoter is an Escherichia coli promoter selected from trp, lac and Bphage or a Bacillus subtilis promoter. 6. The expression vector according to Claim 1, wherein the promoter, ribosome binding site and initiation codon for translation are derived from a eukaryote. 7. A process for expressing a foreign gene which comprises cleaving with a restriction enzyme an expression vector having a promoter, a ribosome binding site and an initiation codon for translation followed by a recognition sequence of the restriction enzyme to be left as 3'protruding end after cleavage with the restriction enzyme, changing the 3'-protruding end to a flush end with DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) or T4DNA polymerase, incorporating the foreign gene to the flush end to make a recombinant, transforming a host microorganism with the recombinant and culturing the thus obtained transformant. 8. A process for expressing a foreign gene which comprises cleaving with a restriction enzyme an expression vector having a promoter, a ribosome binding site and an initiation codon for translation followed by a recognition sequence of the restriction enzyme to be left as 3'-protruding end after cleavage with the restriction enzyme, attaching a homopolymer block to the 3'-protruding end using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, incorporating the foreign gene with a homopolymer block complementary to the above homopolymer block to make a recombinant, transforming a host microorganism with the recombinant and culturing the thus obtained transformant. 9. The process according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the initiation codon for translation is ATG or GTG. 10. The process according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the restriction enzyme is SphI, EcoRV, KpnI or SacI. 11. The process according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the promoter is derived from a prokaryote. 12. The process according to Claim 11, wherein the promoter is an Escherichia coli promoter selected from trp, lac and Aphage. 13. The process according to Claim 7 or 8, wherein the promoter, ribosome binding site and initiation codon for translation are derived from a eukaryote. 14. A microorganism containing the expression vector according to Claim 1. 15. Escherichia coli ITrS-3. 16. The process according to Claim 7, wherein the foreign gene is a gene coding for interferon or a derivative thereof. 17. The process according to Claim 7, wherein the host microorganism belongs to Escherichia coli. 18. Escherichia coli IFJ-123. 19. Escherichia coli IFM-9.

Inventors: ITO, SEIGA, NISHI, TATSUNARI, SATO, MORIYUKI, SUGANO, HARUO, TANIGUCHI, TADATSUGU
Applicants: JURIDICAL FOUNDATION JAPANESE FOUNDATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH, KYOWA HAKKO KOGYO CO., LTD.
Application year: 1983
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: C12N15, C07K14