Overexpression of the phage lambda lysozyme cloned in Escherichia coli: use of a degenerative mixture of synthetic ribosome binding sites and increase of the protein stability in vivo.

The R gene of the phage lambda coding for a lysozyme expressed at the end of an infection cycle in Escherichia coli has been cloned in a series of vector plasmids. Two methods for improving the efficiency of translation have been tested. First, the use of a bicistronic construction in which the ribosome binding site (RBS) of the first cistron is that of a highly expressed gene or the use of a degenerate mixture of synthetic oligonucleotides for the optimization of a RBS.