New alkane-responsive expression vectors for Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas

We have developed Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas expression vectors based on the alkane-responsive Pseudomonas putida (oleovorans) GPol promoter PalkB. The expression vectors were tested in several E. coli strains, P. putida GPol2 and P. fluorescens KOB2 Delta1 with catechol-2,3-dioxygenase (XylE). Induction factors ranged between 100 and 2700 for pKKPalk in E. coli and pCom8 in Pseudomonas strains, but were clearly lower for pCom8, pCom9, and pCom10 in E. coli. XylE expression levels of more than 10% of total cell protein were obtained for E. coli as well as for Pseudomonas strains. (C) 2001 Academic Press.