Codon optimization of the human papillomavirus type 58 L1 gene enhances the expression of soluble L1 protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The effect of codon optimization of L1 gene on the production of the L1 protein of human papillomavirus (HPV) was investigated in a yeast expression system. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was transformed with a plasmid containing either the wild type (WS)-HPV type 58 L1 (HPV58 L1) gene or a codon-optimized (MO)-HPV58 L1 gene. The proportion of soluble L1 protein expressed from MO-HPV58 L1 was significantly higher than that expressed from WS-HPV58 L1. Moreover, the amount of purified MO-HPV58 L1 protein recovered was 2.5-fold higher than the amount of WS-HPV58 L1 protein. Codon optimization of HPV58 L1 gene thus increases the proportion of soluble L1 protein and the amount of purified product that can be used as antigen to generate vaccines.