Bombyx mori protein disulfide isomerase enhances the production of nuecin, an antibacterial protein.

The insect baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) is useful for producing biologically active recombinant proteins. However, the overexpressions of foreign proteins using this system often results in misfolded proteins and the formation of protein aggregates. To overcome this limitation, we developed a versatile baculovirus expression and secretion system using Bombyx mori protein disulfide isomerase (bPDI) as a fusion partner. bPDI gene fusion was found to improve the secretions and antibacterial activities of recombinant nuecin proteins. Thus, we conclude that bPDI gene fusion is a useful addition to BEVS for the large-scale production of bioactive recombinant proteins.