Expression in Escherichia coli of a Chemically Synthesized Gene for the Hormone Somatostatin

作者：Keiichi Itakura, Tadaaki Hirose, Roberto Crea, Arthur D. Riggs, Herbert L. Heyneker, Francisco Bolívar, Herbert W. Boyer · 发表于：Science · 年份：1977 · DOI：10.1126/science.412251 · 被引用次数：856 · 研究领域：Pancreatic function and diabetes、Cellular transport and secretion、Microtubule and mitosis dynamics

A gene for somatostatin, a mammalian peptide (14 amino acid residues) hormone, was synthesized by chemical methods. This gene was fused to the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene on the plasmid pBR322. Transformation of E. coli with the chimeric plasmid DNA led to the synthesis of a polypeptide including the sequence of amino acids corresponding to somatostatin. In vitro, active somatostatin was specifically cleaved from the large chimeric protein by treatment with cyanogen bromide. This represents the first synthesis of a functional polypeptide product from a gene of chemically synthesized origin.