Therapeutic Proteins, Dramatic Enhancement
Dramatic Enhancement of Therapeutic Proteins with SUMO
The SUMO Tag
Understanding SUMO

Distinction Between SUMOpro and SUMOstar: Expression of Therapeutic Proteins in Mammalian Cells
The SUMO pathway is conserved in eukaryotic cells. E.coli lacks the SUMO pathway and SUMO proteases. Unlike SUMOpro that is used to express SUMO-fusion in E.coli, native SUMO-fusions are rapidly cleaved in eukaryotic cells. To circumvent this problem and to take advantage of cheapening the properties of SUMO, the SUMO tag is engineered to preserve enhanced protein production properties of SUMO. The engineered SUMO is called SUMOstar. SUMOstar fusions are not cleaved by endogenous eukaryotic SUMO proteases. The isolated SUMOstar fusions from eukaryotic cells can be efficiently cleaved by SUMOstar protease in vitro.
LifeSensors offers both SUMOpro and SUMOstar for expression of chemokines, cytokines, and growth factors. Over 1000 proteins have been expressed as SUMOpro or SUMOstar fusions. Check to see if your protein or member of the family has been expressed as SUMO-fusion by using the included SUMO Search Sheet (below).
The SUMO system allows for the expression of mature protein with the desired N-terminus. SUMO protease is used for removing SUMO fusion manufactured in E. coli, and SUMOstar for processing fusion proteins from mammalian cells by SUMOstar protease. Application of SUMOstar in mammalian cells preserves post translational modifications, enhanced biological activity, and yield. LifeSensors can evaluate your gene for expression enhancing properties by SUMOpro and SUMOstar in mammalian cells (results delivered in 2-4 weeks). These methods can be transferred to downstream processing labs for GMP production.