Introduction to expression by fusion protein vectors.

This overview discusses issues involved with creating and manipulating vectors for expression of fusion proteins. The requirements for efficient translation include a promoter and a start codon, along with the fact that the mRNA encoding the protein to be expressed must contain a ribosome-binding site that is not blocked by mRNA secondary structure. The level of expression is also affected by codon preferences, and may be affected by the coding sequence in other ways that are not yet well understood.

Molecular cloning and characterization of murine interleukin-11.

Human interleukin-11 (IL-11) has been shown to have pleiotropic action on hematopoietic, hepatic, stromal, epithelial, neural, and osteoclast cells. In the present work, the murine IL-11 cDNA has been isolated from a fetal thymic cell line, and its structure and function compared with human IL-11. The murine protein was demonstrated to have identical actions on the proliferation of a murine plasmacytoma cell line, murine primitive bone marrow progenitor cells, and megakaryocyte precursors.