A kinetic model describing cell growth and production of highly active, recombinant ice nucleation protein in <TOGGLE>Escherichia coli</TOGGLE>

A structured kinetic model, which describes the production of the recombinant ice nucleation protein in different conditions, was applied. The model parameters were estimated based on the variation of the specific growth rate and the intracellular product concentration during cultivation. The equations employed relate the cellular plasmid content or plasmid copy number with the cloned-gene expression; these correlations were successfully tested on the experimental data. The optimal nutrient conditions for the growth of <TOGGLE>Escherichia coli</TOGGLE> expressing the <TOGGLE>inaZ</TOGGLE> gene of <TOGGLE>Pseudomonas syringae</TOGGLE> were determined for the production of active ice nucleation protein. The kinetics of the cultures expressing the <TOGGLE>inaZ</TOGGLE> gene were studied in a bioreactor at different growth temperatures and nutrient conditions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 78: 321–332, 2002.