Fitting replacement of signal peptide for highly efficient expression of three penicillin G acylases in E. coli

High level expression of penicillin G acylase (PGA) in Escherichia coli is generally constricted by a complex maturation process and multiple limiting steps. In this study, three PGAs isolated from Providencia rettgeri (PrPGA), Alcaligenes faecalis (AfPGA), and Achromobacter xylosoxidans (AxPGA) were efficiently expressed in E. coli by replacing with applicable signal peptide. Different bottlenecks of the expression process were analyzed for PrPGA, AfPGA, and AxPGA. Subsequently, five efficient signal peptides, including OmpA, pelB, Lpp, PhoA, and MalE, were used to replace the original signal peptides of the PGAs. With respect to AfPGA and AxPGA, translocation was the primary limitation, and the use of pelB signal peptide effectively overcame this barrier. For PrPGA, which was almost not expressed in wild type, the translation initiation efficiency was optimized by replacing with MalE signal peptide. In addition, low temperature (20 °C) slowed down the transcription and translation, thereby facilitating the posttranslational process and preventing the formation of inclusion bodies. Furthermore, combined induction with IPTG and arabinose not only enhanced the cell density but also remarkably improved the expression of PGAs. Final specific activities of the three PGAs reached 2100 (PrPGA), 9200 (AfPGA), and 1400 (AxPGA) U/L/OD₆₀₀, respectively. This simple and robust strategy by fitting replacement of signal peptide might dramatically improve the expression of PGAs from various bacteria, which was significant in the production of many valuable β-lactam antibiotics.