Journal Article

Making, Cloning, and the Expression of Human Insulin Genes in Bacteria: The Path to Humulin

Riggs, Arthur D

2021

Overview

Abstract In the mid- to late 1970s, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid methods for cloning and expressing genes in E. coli were under intense development. The important question had become: Can humans design and chemically synthesize novel genes that function in bacteria? This question was answered in 1978 and in 1979 with the successful expression in E. coli of 2 mammalian hormones, first somatostatin and then human insulin. The successful production of human insulin in bacteria provided, for the first time, a practical, scalable source of human insulin and resulted in the approval, in 1982, of human insulin for the treatment of diabetics. In this short review, I give my personal view of how the making, cloning, and expressing of human insulin genes was accomplished by a team of scientists led by Keiichi Itakura, Herbert W. Boyer, and myself. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Subject: Amino acids / Bacteria / Bacterial genetics / Biotechnology industry / Chemical synthesis / Cloning / Cloning, Molecular / Deoxyribonucleic acid / Design / Diabetes / Diabetes therapy / DNA / DNA synthesis / DNA, Recombinant - metabolism / E coli / Escherichia coli - genetics / Escherichia coli - metabolism / FDA approval / Federal regulation / Gene expression / Genes / Genetic research / Hormones / Humans / Insulin / Insulin - genetics / Insulin - metabolism / Insulin, Regular, Human - genetics / Insulin, Regular, Human - metabolism / Itakura, Keiichi / Organic chemicals / Peptides / Pharmaceutical industry / Proteins / Questions / Review / Somatostatin