eprintid: 10191433 rev_number: 6 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/14/33 datestamp: 2024-04-30 10:26:28 lastmod: 2024-04-30 10:26:28 status_changed: 2024-04-30 10:26:28 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Sari, Yustika creators_name: Sousa Rosa, Sara creators_name: Jeffries, Jack creators_name: Marques, Marco PC title: Comprehensive evaluation of T7 promoter for enhanced yield and quality in mRNA production ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C05 divisions: F47 keywords: Nucleic-acid therapeutics, RNA, Synthetic biology note: © 2024 Springer Nature Limited. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). abstract: The manufacturing of mRNA vaccines relies on cell-free based systems that are easily scalable and flexible compared with the traditional vaccine manufacturing processes. Typically, standard processes yield 2 to 5 g L−1 of mRNA, with recent process optimisations increasing yields to 12 g L−1. However, increasing yields can lead to an increase in the production of unwanted by-products, namely dsRNA. It is therefore imperative to reduce dsRNA to residual levels in order to avoid intensive purification steps, enabling cost-effective manufacturing processes. In this work, we exploit sequence modifications downstream of the T7 RNA polymerase promoter to increase mRNA yields whilst simultaneously minimising dsRNA. In particular, transcription performance was optimised by modifying the sequence downstream of the T7 promoter with additional AT-rich sequences. We have identified variants that were able to produce higher amounts of mRNA (up to 14 g L−1) in 45 min of reaction. These variants exhibited up to a 30% reduction in dsRNA byproduct levels compared to a wildtype T7 promoter, and have similar EGFP protein expression. The results show that optimising the non-coding regions can have an impact on mRNA production yields and quality, reducing overall manufacturing costs. date: 2024 date_type: published publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59978-5 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2271215 doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-59978-5 lyricists_name: Marques, Marco Paulo lyricists_id: MMARQ87 actors_name: Marques, Marco Paulo actors_id: MMARQ87 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Scientific Reports volume: 14 number: 1 article_number: 9655 citation: Sari, Yustika; Sousa Rosa, Sara; Jeffries, Jack; Marques, Marco PC; (2024) Comprehensive evaluation of T7 promoter for enhanced yield and quality in mRNA production. Scientific Reports , 14 (1) , Article 9655. 10.1038/s41598-024-59978-5 <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59978-5>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10191433/1/s41598-024-59978-5.pdf