Construction, expression and purification of recombinant proteins. (A) Schematic representation of the reading frame of the expression vector TRX-hβD2 and TRX-hβD2-M, (B) expression and purification of hβD2; lane 1: molecular weight marker, lane 2: insoluble fraction, lane 3: soluble fraction, lane 4: fraction not bound to the first Ni2+-IMAC purification step, lane 5: fraction bound to the first Ni2+-IMAC purification step, lane 6: fraction after cleavage by TEV protease, lane 7: fraction bound to the second purification step by Ni2+-IMAC and lane 8: fraction not bound to the second purification step by Ni2+-IMAC. (C) expression and purification of hβD2-M; the charging plan is the same as for hβD2.