A soluble immunoglobulin variable domain without a disulfide bridge: construction, accumulation in the cytoplasm of E. coli, purification and physicochemical characterization.

Two amino acid exchanges (Y32H and C23V) were introduced sequentially into the immunoglobulin REIV, a human kappa variable domain. The first exchange stabilizes the folded state of the domain by 4.6 kJ/mol (1.1 kcal/mol), the second abolishes the central disulfide bridge and destabilizes the folded domain by 17.5 kJ/mol (4.2 kcal/mol). Introduction of the stabilizing exchange first is a necessary pre-requisite to the removal of the central disulfide bridge without collapse of the fold. The double mutant REIV-C23V/Y32H can be accumulated in the cytoplasmatic compartment of the E. coli cell, a finding that opens new possibilities in antibody engineering.