The Protein Engineering Core has developed novel baculovirus expression vectors in which a dual His6-maltose binding protein (MBP) tag is used to dramatically increase the yield of proteins that are secreted into the culture medium. These vectors have been used to produce human interferon lambda 4. The Core has also experimented with high affinity MBP-binding proteins as a means of improving the chances of crystallizing MBP fusion proteins. Four structures of MBP-DUSP1 were determined in this manner, whereas it had previously proven impossible to obtain crystals of DUSP1 or MBP-DUSP1.
