Melittin (MLT) is a small cationic peptide discovered from the bee venom. It is used as an antimicrobial agent due to its broad-spectrum activities against bacteria, fungi and tumor cells. But the sources limit its applications. Therefore, the small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) fusion technology was reported for high-level expression of Melittin. pET-3c-SUMO-Melittin plasmid was constructed, and the fusion protein (SUMO-Melittin) was expressed in a soluble form and purity by Ni²⁺-NTA chromatography. After the SUMO-Melittin fusion protein was cleaved by the SUMO protease, the cleaved sample was purified again by a Ni²⁺-NTA. Finally, about 25 mg recombinant Melittin was obtained from 1L fermentation culture with more than 95% purity. The recombinant Melittin exhibited similar cytotoxicity and antimicrobial properties as the synthetic Melittin. Thus, a system for high-level expression of Melittin was successfully established in this study and could be used for preparation of similar antimicrobial peptides.

蜂毒素（MLT）是从蜂毒中发现的一种小型阳离子肽。由于它对细菌，真菌和肿瘤细胞具有广谱活性，因此被用作抗菌剂。但是消息来源限制了它的应用。因此，据报道，小的泛素相关修饰剂（SUMO）融合技术可用于Melittin的高水平表达。构建了pET-3c-SUMO-蜂毒肽质粒，并通过Ni ²⁺ -NTA层析以可溶性形式和纯度表达了融合蛋白（SUMO-蜂毒肽）。用SUMO蛋白酶裂解SUMO-蜂毒肽融合蛋白后，再次用Ni ²⁺纯化裂解的样品-NTA。最后，从1L发酵培养物中获得约25 mg的重组蜂毒素，纯度超过95％。重组蜂毒蛋白显示出与合成蜂毒蛋白相似的细胞毒性和抗菌特性。因此，在这项研究中成功建立了蜂毒肽高表达系统，可用于制备相似的抗菌肽。