Optimization of the secretory expression of recombinant human C-reactive protein in Pichia pastoris

A Systematic Review of the Potential of Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) as an Alternative Host for Biologics Production

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is garnering interest as a chassis cell factory for the manufacture of recombinant proteins because it effectively satisfies the requirements of both laboratory and industrial set up. The optimisation of P. pastoris cultivation is still necessary due to strain- and product-specific problems such as promoter strength, methanol utilisation type, and culturing conditions to realize the high yields of heterologous protein(s) of interest. Techniques integrating genetic and process engineering have been used to overcome these problems. Insight into the Pichia as an expression system utilizing MUT pathway and the development of methanol free systems are highlighted in this systematic review. Recent developments in the improved production of proteins in P. pastoris by (i) diverse genetic engineering such as codon optimization and gene dosage; (ii) cultivating tactics including co-expression of chaperones; (iii) advances in the use of the 2A peptide system, and (iv) CRISPR/Cas technologies are widely discussed. We believe that by combining these strategies, P. pastoris will become a formidable platform for the production of high value therapeutic proteins.

Optimization of medium composition to increase the expression of recombinant human interferon-β using the Plackett-Burman and central composite design in E. coli SE1

Recombinant human interferon-β (rhIFN-β) is therapeutically important and new commercially viable approaches are needed for its increased production. In this study, a codon-optimized gene encoding for rhIFN-β_(C17S) protein was designed and expressed in E. coli SE1. As a first step of medium optimization, growth of E. coli as a function of different media components was studied. Subsequently, to optimize the media composition, a response surface methodology (RSM) was used. Our results show that optimized medium (15.0 g/L tryptone, 12.3 g/L meat extract, 1.0 g/L MgSO₄ and 0.5 g/L thiamine along with minimal medium) obtained in this study provide better growth of recombinant cells and the expression level of recombinant protein was ~ 1.7-fold more than Luria-Bertani medium. The optimized medium may be utilized for the large-scale production of rhIFN-β.

Pichia pastoris: A highly successful expression system for optimal synthesis of heterologous proteins

One of the most important branches of genetic engineering is the expression of recombinant proteins using biological expression systems. Nowadays, different expression systems are used for the production of recombinant proteins including bacteria, yeasts, molds, mammals, plants, and insects. Yeast expression systems such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) are more popular. P. pastoris expression system is one of the most popular and standard tools for the production of recombinant protein in molecular biology. Overall, the benefits of protein production by P. pastoris system include appropriate folding (in the endoplasmic reticulum) and secretion (by Kex2 as signal peptidase) of recombinant proteins to the external environment of the cell. Moreover, in the P. pastoris expression system due to its limited production of endogenous secretory proteins, the purification of recombinant protein is easy. It is also considered a unique host for the expression of subunit vaccines which could significantly affect the growing market of medical biotechnology. Although P. pastoris expression systems are impressive and easy to use with well‐defined process protocols, some degree of process optimization is required to achieve maximum production of the target proteins. Methanol and sorbitol concentration, Mut forms, temperature and incubation time have to be adjusted to obtain optimal conditions, which might vary among different strains and externally expressed protein. Eventually, optimal conditions for the production of a recombinant protein in P. pastoris expression system differ according to the target protein.

High-level expression of Thermomyces dupontii thermophilic lipase in Pichia pastoris via combined strategies

In this study, a combined strategy was used to improve the production of Thermomyces dupontii lipase (TDL) in Pichia pastoris. First, the native gene of TDL was optimized based on the codon usage of P. pastoris, ligated to pPICZαA and transformed in P. pastoris X33. A recombinant strain designated X33-T23 with the highest activity (1020 U/mL in shake flasks) amongst 216 recombinant colonies was selected for further investigations. To further increase the production of TDL, nine different secretion helper factor genes were transformed in the recombinant strain, X33-T23. The recombinant strain co-expression with the gene encoding protein disulfide isomerase, designated X33-T23-PDI, exhibited the highest activity in shake flasks (1760 U/mL) and in 5 L bioreactor (57521 U/mL) which were 1.67- and 1.46-fold higher, respectively, than for strain X33-T23. Additionally, the optimization of the inducers (temperature and pH) for the recombinant strain X33-T23-PDI in 5 L bioreactor produced, as expected, much higher lipase activity (81203 U/mL). The results of this study will provide an effective method to produce TDL and give some clues on how to improve production of heterologous proteins in P. pastoris.

High-level expression of Thermomyces dupontii thermo-alkaline lipase in Pichia pastoris under the control of different promoters

In this study, 15 methanol-inducible and 9 constitutive promoters were used to drive the expression of Thermomyces dupontii lipase (TDL) in Pichia pastoris. Of the 15 methanol-inducible promoters, formaldehyde dehydrogenase promoter (P_FLD1) showed the highest efficiency in driving lipase production, followed by alcohol oxidase 1 (P_AOX1) and dihydroxyacetone synthase (P_DAS1) promoters. The maximum lipase activity of transformants with P_FLD1, P_AOX1 and P_DAS1 promoters in 5-l bioreactor was 27,076, 24,159 and 22,342 U/ml, respectively. For the nine constitutive promoters, glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol-anchored protein promoter (P_GCW14) produced the highest amount of lipases in a medium containing glucose or glycerol as the only carbon source, followed by mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase isozyme (P₀₄₇₂) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (P_GAP) promoters. The maximum lipase yields in 5-l bioreactors under the control of P_GCW14, P₀₄₇₂ and P_GAP promoters were 17,353, 15,046 and 14,276 U/ml, respectively. The result of this study not only identifies a few highly efficient promoters for the heterologous expression of TDL in P. pastoris, but also casts some insight into the optimization of protein production in heterologous systems.