Background: P64k is a Neisseria meningitidis high molecular weight protein present in meningococcal vaccine preparations. The lpdA gene, which encodes for this protein, was cloned in Escherichia coli and the P64k recombinant protein was expressed in E. coli K12 GC366 cells under the control of a tryptophan promoter. P64k was expressed as an intracellular soluble protein about 28% of the total cellular protein. Several scale-up criteria of fermentation processes were studied to obtain the recombinant P64k protein at the pilot production scale.
 
Results: The best operational conditions at a larger scale production of P64k recombinant protein were studied and compared using the four following criteria: Constant Reynold's number (Re constant), Constant impeller tip speed (n di constant), Constant power consumption per unit liquid volume (P/V constant) and Constant volumetric oxygen transfer coefficients (KLa/k constant). The highest production of the recombinant protein was achieved based on the constant KLa/k scale-up fermentation criterion, calculating the aeration rate (Q) and the impeller agitation speed (n) by iterative process, keeping constant the KLa/k value from bench scale. The P64k protein total production at the 50 l culture scale was 546 mg l-1 in comparison with the 284 mg l-1 obtained at 1.5 l bench scale.

Conclusions: The methodology described herein, for the KLa/k scale-up fermentation criterion, allowed us to obtain the P64k protein at 50 l scale. A fermentation process for the production of P64k protein from N. meningitidis was established, a protein to be used in future vaccine formulations in humans.