Overexpression of the ftsZ gene from Corynebacterium glutamicum (Brevibacterium lactofermentum) in Escherichia coli

Abstract
Our goal in this work was to overexpress the essential cell division FtsZ protein from Corynebacterium glutamicum (Brevibacterium lactofermentum) (FtsZCG) in Escherichia coli to produce anti-FtsZCG polyclonal antibodies. Previous results from our laboratory showed that ftsZCG was not expressed in E. coli in a sufficient amount to purify FtsZCG. However, when ftsZCG (without upstream sequences) was transcriptionally fused to the T7 promoter, different truncated FtsZCG proteins (28–32 kDa) were overexpressed in E. coli, and in all cases, stop codons were created because of DNA deletions or rearrangements. Nevertheless, we were able to overexpress and purify an N-terminally hexa-His-tagged FtsZCG from uninduced E. coli cells carrying a pET-28a(+) derivative, yielding about 5 mg of 98% pure protein per 100-mL culture.Key words: Brevibacterium lactofermentum, Corynebacterium glutamicum, FtsZ overexpresssion, hexa-His-tagged FtsZ.