Prokaryotic host cells for expressing proteins rich in disulfide bonds

The invention provides composition and methods for producing proteins of interest which comprise at least one disulfide bond, include proteins which in their mature form do not contain disulfide bonds, but whose precursor molecule contained at least one disulfide bond. The methods employ a host cell modified to more efficiently produce properly folded disulfide bond containing proteins. The host cells generally contain a mutation in one or more reductase genes, and can be further genetically modified to increase their growth rate, and are further optionally modified to increase the expression of a catalyst of disulfide bond formation. Host cells, methods for u sing such to produce proteins of interest, proteins of interest produced by these methods are within the scope of the invention.