Patent ID: 8329429

Claim:
A method of increasing the production yield of a recombinant protein having a pro-domain, wherein the recombinant protein is bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), the method comprising the step of expressing a nucleotide sequence comprising a recombinant gene encoding said recombinant protein in eukaryotic cells and wherein cleavage of the pro-domain of the protein is inhibited or eliminated by mutating the recombinant gene to make the protein resistant to cleavage by a proprotein convertase, wherein the proprotein convertase recognition site REKR, consisting of amino acid residues 279 to 282 of SEQ ID NO: 2, of the recombinant protein is replaced with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 16, and wherein said increased production yield is in comparison to the yield obtained using a method in which the cleavage of said pro-domain is not inhibited or eliminated.