[Expression of mouse canstatin and its N-domain in E. coli BL21]

The mouse canstatin and its N-domain cDNA were amplified from total RNA of mouse liver by RT- PCR and cloned into vector pMD18-T for sequencing. Prokaryotic expression vectors pET/Can and pET/Can-N were constructed and expressed in E.coli BL21(DE3) with induction of IPTG.. Mouse canstatin cDNA is 684bp in length encoding 227 amino acids. The sequences of both cDNA and amino acids share high homology with human canstatin, with cDNA identity at 89% and amino acids identity at 96% to human canstatin. N-domain of mouse canstatin is the same amino acid sequence as that of human canstatin. In the present study, prokaryotic expression vector pET/Can and pET/Can-N were expressed in E.coli BL21 with amount of 35% and 18% of the total bacterial proteins after being induced by IPTG for 4h. The expressed products existed mainly as inclusion bodies. This work has laid down the basis for further study of its angiogenic activity and potential application for tumor dormancy therapy.