Understanding the mechanism of polyethyleneimine-mediated cell disintegration and protein extraction in E. coli: The role of floc network formation and PEI molecular weight.

Cell disintegration and protein extraction are crucial steps in downstream process development for biopharmaceuticals produced in E. coli. In this study, we explored the extraction mechanism of polyethyleneimine (PEI) at the cellular level and characterized the floc network that is formed upon PEI addition by Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement and Dispersion Analyzer.

Polyethyleneimine efficiently extracts recombinant cytoplasmatic green fluorescent protein produced in Escherichia coli with high purity.

We used a polycationic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI) to develop a method to extract recombinant proteins produced in the Escherichia coli (E. coli) cytosol. Compared to high pressure homogenization, commonly used to disrupt E.