Engineered bacteria that secrete therapeutic polypeptides, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the bacteria, methods for producing recombinant polypeptides, and methods for using the bacteria for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are provided.

An isolated chimeric recombinant protein has cutinase activity. The protein includes a cutinase catalytic domain and a polymer binding domain operably linked by a proline/threonine-rich linker domain. The proline/threonine-rich linker domain includes at least 50% proline or threonine residues over a stretch of 15 to 55 consecutive amino acids.

The present invention provides nucleic acids, expression systems, and vaccine strains which provide efficient expression and secretion of antigens of interest into the cytosol of host cells, and elicit effective CD4 and CD8 T cell responses by functionally linking Listerial or other bacterial signal peptides/secretion chaperones as N-terminal fusion partners in translational reading frame with selected recombinant encoded protein antigens. These N-terminal fusion partners are deleted (either by actual deletion, by mutation, or by a combination of these approaches) for any PEST sequences native to the sequence, and/or for certain hydrophobic residues.

Multi-domain recombinant proteins have a cutinase catalytic domain. The cutinase catalytic domain is a modular domain, which may be combined with other protein domains that also function in a modular fashion. For example, the cutinase catalytic domain can be operably linked to a polymer binding domain via a linker domain (e.g., a threonine/proline-rich linker polypeptide). The cutinase catalytic domain can be from an endogenous cutinase having a multi-domain modular organization, such as from the actinobacterium Kineococcus radiotolerans. The recombinant proteins are used in compositions, methods and uses, such as for use in industrial applications.

The present invention provides a method and system for producing a NELL protein. The method and system comprise a CELL encoding a NELL protein or peptide and a non-insect secretory signal peptide.

The present invention relates to a recombinant bacterium expressing an antigen that is translocated to the cytosol of a host organism, and uses thereof. To this end, the present invention provides a recombinant bacterium comprising a nucleic acid encoding an antigen that is translocated to the cytosol of a host cell utilizing Type Ill secretion system. The recombinant bacterium is generally chosen from intracellular pathogens that reside in the phagosome and fail to induce rapid T cell activation. The translocated antigen may be a viral antigen, a bacterial antigen, or a tumour antigen. Methods of imparting immunity using the recombinant bacterium are also provided.

The present disclosure provides immunomodulatory fusion proteins comprising a collagen-binding domain operably linked to an immunomodulatory domain. The disclosure also features compositions and methods of using the same, for example, to treat cancer.

The present invention provides nucleic acids, expression systems, and vaccine strains which provide efficient expression and secretion of antigens of interest into the cytosol of host cells, and elicit effective CD4 and CD8 T cell responses by functionally linking Listerial or other bacterial signal peptides/secretion chaperones as N-terminal fusion partners in translational reading frame with selected recombinant encoded protein antigens. These N-terminal fusion partners are deleted (either by actual deletion, by mutation, or by a combination of these approaches) for any PEST sequences native to the sequence, and/or for certain hydrophobic residues.

Disclosed are compositions and methods for expressing and purifying a peptide of interest using a Flagellar Type III secretion system. Disclosed are nucleic acid sequences that contain a FlgM nucleic acid sequence, a cleavage site, and a nucleic acid sequence of interest. Also disclosed are polypeptides that contain FlgM, a cleavage site and a peptide of interest. Methods of producing polypeptides that have FlgM, a cleavage site and a peptide of interest are provided.

The present invention provides a method and system for producing a NELL protein. The method and system comprise a CELL encoding a NELL protein or peptide and a non-insect secretory signal peptide.