Production of Nα-acetylated thymosin α1 in Escherichia coli

摘要

BackgroundThymosin α1 (Tα1), a 28-amino acid N^α-acetylated peptide, has a powerful general immunostimulating activity. Although biosynthesis is an attractive means of large-scale manufacture, to date, Tα1 can only be chemosynthesized because of two obstacles to its biosynthesis: the difficulties in expressing small peptides and obtaining N^α-acetylation. In this study, we describe a novel production process for N^α-acetylated Tα1 in Escherichia coli.