In batch cultivation, growth of a recombinant Escherichia coli with an inducible T7 expression system and maximum expression of a bioadhesive precursor (BP) protein was similar in the strains with and without the plasmid vector, pLysS. In fed-batch cultivation, however, the strain harboring pLysS grew slower and had a lower level of BP protein expression than that obtained with the strain without pLysS. This suggests that the presence of pLysS in the T7 expression system strongly affects the cell growth and expression of BP protein in high cell density cultivation.