Patent ID: 7959926

Claim:
A process comprising: a) culturing Escherichia coli host cells comprising an O-tRNA/O-RS pair and capable of producing human growth hormone (hGH) comprising a non-naturally encoded amino acid in culture medium; b) producing the hGH comprising the non-naturally encoded amino acid wherein the non-naturally encoded amino acid is at a position corresponding to 35, 92, 143, or 145 of SEQ ID NO: 2, or the corresponding amino acid positions in SEQ ID NO: 1 or 3; c) coupling the non-naturally encoded amino acid to a water soluble polymer; and d) purifying the coupled hGH comprising the non-naturally encoded amino acid with one or more steps, wherein at least about 100 mg substantially purified hGH is produced per liter of recombinant host cell culture medium.