Production of recombinant avidin in Escherichia coli

A recombinant avidin (re-Avd), containing amino acids (aa) 1-123 of the native chicken egg-white Avd, was produced in Escherichia coli. When cells were grown at 37 degrees C production was over 1 microgram/ml, due to altering the codon preference of the first ten codons. The re-Avd was recovered as a soluble protein from cells grown at 25 or 30 degrees C, whereas at 37 degrees C it was mostly insoluble in inclusion bodies. Our results indicated that, despite the potentially harmful biotin-binding activity of Avd, it is possible to produce biologically active Avd in E. coli which then can easily be purified by affinity chromatography on a biotin column in a single step.