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Rußmayer H, Buchetics M, Mattanovich M, Neubauer S, Steiger M, Graf AB, Koellensperger G, Hann S, Sauer M, Gasser B, Mattanovich D. Customizing amino acid metabolism of Pichia pastoris for recombinant protein production. Biotechnol J 2023; 18:e2300033. [PMID: 37668396 DOI: 10.1002/biot.202300033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/31/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. In this respect, a reciprocal effect of recombinant protein production on amino acid biosynthesis as well as the impact of the availability of free amino acids on protein production can be anticipated. In this study, the impact of engineering the amino acid metabolism on the production of recombinant proteins was investigated in the yeast Pichia pastoris (syn Komagataella phaffii). Based on comprehensive systems-level analyses of the metabolomes and transcriptomes of different P. pastoris strains secreting antibody fragments, cell engineering targets were selected. Our working hypothesis that increasing intracellular amino acid levels could help unburden cellular metabolism and improve recombinant protein production was examined by constitutive overexpression of genes related to amino acid metabolism. In addition to 12 genes involved in specific amino acid biosynthetic pathways, the transcription factor GCN4 responsible for regulation of amino acid biosynthetic genes was overexpressed. The production of the used model protein, a secreted carboxylesterase (CES) from Sphingopyxis macrogoltabida, was increased by overexpression of pathway genes for alanine and for aromatic amino acids, and most pronounced, when overexpressing the regulator GCN4. The analysis of intracellular amino acid levels of selected clones indicated a direct linkage of improved recombinant protein production to the increased availability of intracellular amino acids. Finally, fed batch cultures showed that overexpression of GCN4 increased CES titers 2.6-fold, while the positive effect of other amino acid synthesis genes could not be transferred from screening to bioreactor cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannes Rußmayer
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
| | - Markus Buchetics
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthias Mattanovich
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Stefan Neubauer
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Chemistry, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Matthias Steiger
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alexandra B Graf
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
- School of Bioengineering, University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Gunda Koellensperger
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Chemistry, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stephan Hann
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Chemistry, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Sauer
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
| | - Brigitte Gasser
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
| | - Diethard Mattanovich
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria
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Zahrl RJ, Gasser B, Mattanovich D, Ferrer P. Detection and Elimination of Cellular Bottlenecks in Protein-Producing Yeasts. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 1923:75-95. [PMID: 30737735 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9024-5_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Yeasts are efficient cell factories and are commonly used for the production of recombinant proteins for biopharmaceutical and industrial purposes. For such products high levels of correctly folded proteins are needed, which sometimes requires improvement and engineering of the expression system. The article summarizes major breakthroughs that led to the efficient use of yeasts as production platforms and reviews bottlenecks occurring during protein production. Special focus is given to the metabolic impact of protein production. Furthermore, strategies that were shown to enhance secretion of recombinant proteins in different yeast species are presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Zahrl
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria.,Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Vienna, Austria
| | - Brigitte Gasser
- Christian Doppler-Laboratory for Growth-Decoupled Protein Production in Yeast, Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Vienna, Austria
| | - Diethard Mattanovich
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) and Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Vienna, Austria
| | - Pau Ferrer
- Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Belvaux, Luxembourg. .,Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain.
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de Ruijter JC, Jurgens G, Frey AD. Screening for novel genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae involved in recombinant antibody production. FEMS Yeast Res 2016; 17:fow104. [PMID: 27956492 DOI: 10.1093/femsyr/fow104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2016] [Accepted: 12/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Cost-effective manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals in non-mammalian hosts still requires tremendous efforts in strain development. In order to expedite identification of novel leads for strain engineering, we used a transposon-mutagenized yeast genomic DNA library to create a collection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae deletion strains expressing a full-length IgG antibody. Using a high-throughput screening, transformants with either significantly higher or lower IgG expression were selected. The integration site of the transposon in three of the selected strains was located by DNA sequencing. The inserted DNA lay within the VPS30 and TAR1 open reading frame, and upstream of the HEM13 open reading frame. The complete coding sequence of these genes was deleted in the wild-type strain background to confirm the IgG expression phenotypes. Production of recombinant antibody was increased 2-fold in the Δvps30 strain, but only mildly affected secretion levels in the Δtar1 strain. Remarkably, expression of endogenous yeast acid phosphatase was increased 1.7- and 2.4-fold in Δvps30 and Δtar1 strains. The study confirmed the power of genome-wide high-throughput screens for strain development and highlights the importance of using the target molecule during the screening process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorg C de Ruijter
- Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Technology, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
| | | | - Alexander D Frey
- Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Technology, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
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Milne N, Luttik MAH, Cueto Rojas HF, Wahl A, van Maris AJA, Pronk JT, Daran JM. Functional expression of a heterologous nickel-dependent, ATP-independent urease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Metab Eng 2015; 30:130-140. [PMID: 26037463 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2015.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2015] [Revised: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 05/21/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
In microbial processes for production of proteins, biomass and nitrogen-containing commodity chemicals, ATP requirements for nitrogen assimilation affect product yields on the energy producing substrate. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a current host for heterologous protein production and potential platform for production of nitrogen-containing chemicals, uptake and assimilation of ammonium requires 1 ATP per incorporated NH3. Urea assimilation by this yeast is more energy efficient but still requires 0.5 ATP per NH3 produced. To decrease ATP costs for nitrogen assimilation, the S. cerevisiae gene encoding ATP-dependent urease (DUR1,2) was replaced by a Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene encoding ATP-independent urease (ure2), along with its accessory genes ureD, ureF and ureG. Since S. pombe ure2 is a Ni(2+)-dependent enzyme and Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not express native Ni(2+)-dependent enzymes, the S. pombe high-affinity nickel-transporter gene (nic1) was also expressed. Expression of the S. pombe genes into dur1,2Δ S. cerevisiae yielded an in vitro ATP-independent urease activity of 0.44±0.01 µmol min(-1) mg protein(-1) and restored growth on urea as sole nitrogen source. Functional expression of the Nic1 transporter was essential for growth on urea at low Ni(2+) concentrations. The maximum specific growth rates of the engineered strain on urea and ammonium were lower than those of a DUR1,2 reference strain. In glucose-limited chemostat cultures with urea as nitrogen source, the engineered strain exhibited an increased release of ammonia and reduced nitrogen content of the biomass. Our results indicate a new strategy for improving yeast-based production of nitrogen-containing chemicals and demonstrate that Ni(2+)-dependent enzymes can be functionally expressed in S. cerevisiae.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Milne
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - M A H Luttik
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - H F Cueto Rojas
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - A Wahl
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - A J A van Maris
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - J T Pronk
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
| | - J M Daran
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands.
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