A LACTIC ACID BACTERIAL REGULATABLE EXPRESSION SYSTEM

摘要

Expression vectors capable of being replicated in lactic acid bacterial cellscomprising a promoter region comprising (a) a promotersequence element, the function of which is regulatable by an environmental orgrowth condition factor and (b) at least one further nucleotidesequence element, the position, orientation, presence and/or sequence of whichelement has a regulatory effect on the expression of a geneoperably linked to the promoter region in which vectors, the position,orientation, presence and/or sequence of at least one of said elements(a) or (b) is modified relative to the position, orientation, presence and/orsequence of the corresponding non-modified element wherebythe expression of the gene is altered, and a lactic acid bacterium which istransformed with such a vector as defined above are provided.The recombinant cells containing such a regulatable or inducible geneexpression system are useful as food or feed starter cultures or asstrains for the production of gene products such as pharmaceutically orimmunologically active compounds including oligo- or polypeptidesderived from a Mycobacterium species including M. tuberculosis.