Patent ID: 8257946

Claim:
A method for producing a recombinant polypeptide, the method comprising: (a) culturing a prokaryotic cell transformed with a recombinant polynucleotide, the recombinant polynucleotide encoding a fusion protein comprising: (i) the recombinant polypeptide; and (ii) an inducible autoproteolytic cysteine protease fused to the C-terminus of the recombinant polypeptide; (b) isolating the fusion protein from the cell; (c) inducing the autoproteolytic cysteine protease of the isolated fusion protein in a reaction mixture by adding a solution consisting_essentially of inositol hexakisphosphate to the reaction mixture to cleave the isolated fusion protein and produce a cleaved fragment comprising the recombinant polypeptide; and (d) isolating the cleaved fragment comprising the recombinant polypeptide.