Efficient production from Aspergillus niger of a heterologous protein and an individual protein domain, heavy isotope-labelled, for structure-function analysis.

Aspergillus niger has been used successfully to secrete proteins labelled with 13C and/or 15N to a specific activity of > 99% for high resolution NMR analysis. In the case of a heterologous protein, hen egg-white lysozyme, 15N single-labelled and 13C, 15N double-labelled forms were secreted at yields of 100-200 mg l-1 by optimising the type of carbon source used and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen. Another protein, the glucoamylase starch-binding domain from A. niger, was also produced as the 15N single-labelled form at 20-40 mg l-1.