Cloning and expression of recombinant human leptin in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Leptin, a peptide hormone, is produced by mature adipocytes and functions primarily in the hypothalamus to reduce food intake and body weight. Recombinant h-leptin has been shown to be effective in obesity treatment. To overexpression of recombinant human leptin in Escherichia coli, the human leptin gene (hob gene) was cloned into the vector pET-28a. When analysis expression of human leptin in E. coli BL21(DE3) strain, it was found that recombinant vector pET-hob expressed h-leptinproteins in cytoplasm, and mainly as insoluble inclusion bodies. This result will be the premise for researching to produce recombinant human leptin protein.