PMT1 gene plays a major role in O-mannosylation of insulin precursor in Pichia pastoris

Molecular engineering of insulin for recombinant expression in yeast

Since the first administration of insulin to a person with diabetes in 1922, scientific contributions from academia and industry have improved insulin therapy and access. The pharmaceutical need for insulin is now more than 40 tons annually, half of which is produced by recombinant secretory expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We discuss how, in this yeast species, adaptation of insulin precursors by removable structural elements is pivotal for efficient secretory expression. The technologies reviewed have been implemented at industrial scale and are seminal for the supply of human insulin and insulin analogues to people with diabetes now and in the future. Engineering of a target protein with removable structural elements may provide a general approach to yield optimisation.

What makes Komagataella phaffii non-conventional?

The important industrial protein production host Komagataella phaffii (syn Pichia pastoris) is classified as a non-conventional yeast. But what exactly makes K. phaffii non-conventional? In this review, we set out to address the main differences to the 'conventional' yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but also pinpoint differences to other non-conventional yeasts used in biotechnology. Apart from its methylotrophic lifestyle, K. phaffii is a Crabtree-negative yeast species. But even within the methylotrophs, K. phaffii possesses distinct regulatory features such as glycerol-repression of the methanol-utilization pathway or the lack of nitrate assimilation. Rewiring of the transcriptional networks regulating carbon (and nitrogen) source utilization clearly contributes to our understanding of genetic events occurring during evolution of yeast species. The mechanisms of mating-type switching and the triggers of morphogenic phenotypes represent further examples for how K. phaffii is distinguished from the model yeast S. cerevisiae. With respect to heterologous protein production, K. phaffii features high secretory capacity but secretes only low amounts of endogenous proteins. Different to S. cerevisiae, the Golgi apparatus of K. phaffii is stacked like in mammals. While it is tempting to speculate that Golgi architecture is correlated to the high secretion levels or the different N-glycan structures observed in K. phaffii, there is recent evidence against this. We conclude that K. phaffii is a yeast with unique features that has a lot of potential to explore both fundamental research questions and industrial applications.

A novel peptide design aids in the expression and its simplified process of manufacturing of Insulin Glargine in Pichia pastoris

Manufacturing of insulin and its analogues relied upon in vitro enzymatic cleavages of its precursor forms (single chain precursor, SCP) at both ends of a connecting peptide (C-peptide) that links the respective B-chain and A-chains to corresponding final forms. We have demonstrated a simplified approach of cleaving P. pastoris expressed SCP, distinctly at one site for conversion to insulin glargine. The design of the precursor was made in such a way that there is no C-peptide in the precursor which needs to be removed in the final product. Instead of traditional both side cleavage of the C-peptide and removing the C-peptide (by trypsin), followed by 2nd enzyme reaction (typically carboxipeptidase B), present work established only one side cleavage of the sequence by only trypsin converts the precursor to final insulin glargine product. The novel design of the precursor helped in producing insulin glargine in a single step with an application of single enzyme brought high degree of process efficiencies. Highly purified product was generated through two reversed phase high pressure chromatographic steps. Purified product was compared with the reference product Lantus®, for various physico-chemical and biological properties. Primary, secondary and tertiary structures as well as biological pharmaco-dynamic effects were found comparable. High cell density fermentation that gave a good yield of the SCP, a single step conversion to insulin glargine, enabled by a unique design of SCP and a distinct purification approach, has led to a simplified and economical manufacturing process of this important drug used to treat diabetes. KEY POINTS: • Novel concept for processing single chain precursor of insulin glargine • Simple and economic process for insulin glargine • Physicochemical characterization and animal Pharmacodynamics show similarity to Lantus.

The Degree and Length of O-Glycosylation of Recombinant Proteins Produced in Pichia pastoris Depends on the Nature of the Protein and the Process Type

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is known as an efficient host for the production of heterologous proteins. While N-linked protein glycosylation is well characterized in P. pastoris there is less knowledge of the patterns of O-glycosylation. O-glycans produced by P. pastoris consist of short linear mannose chains, which in the case of recombinant biopharmaceuticals can trigger an immune response in humans. This study aims to reveal the influence of different cultivation strategies on O-mannosylation profiles in P. pastoris. Sixteen different model proteins, produced by different P. pastoris strains, are analyzed for their O-glycosylation profile. Based on the obtained data, human serum albumin (HSA) is chosen to be produced in fast and slow growth fed batch fermentations by using common promoters, P_GAP and P_AOX1 . After purification and protein digestion, glycopeptides are analyzed by LC/ESI-MS. In the samples expressed with P_GAP it is found that the degree of glycosylation is slightly higher when a slow growth rate is used, regardless of the efficiency of the producing strain. The highest glycosylation intensity is observed in HSA produced with P_AOX1 . The results indicate that the O-glycosylation level is markedly higher when the protein is produced in a methanol-based expression system.

High level expression and glycosylation of recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ala-Pro-rich antigen in Pichia pastoris

The Ala-Pro-rich Antigen (Apa) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a mannosylated protein with immunogenic and antigenic properties. The O-mannosylation is essential for its biological function in the process of colonization and invasion of host cells by M. tuberculosis. In this work, the gene encoding Apa was cloned from M. tuberculosis and expressed in Pichia pastoris GS115. In shake-flasks, the recombinant Apa was secreted into the culture media and purified with a yield of 0.6 g/L. Both N- and O-glycans were found in recombinant Apa. In P. pastoris the known M. tuberculosis-derived O-glycosites of Apa were modified with short chains of mannose units, and a few additional glycosylation sites were also observed. Therefore, the recombinant Apa expressed in P. pastoris has similar but not identical O-mannose patterns to the native protein from M. tuberculosis. P. pastoris and mycobacteria share similarities in the protein O-glycosylation pathway. Thus P. pastoris could be a potential powerful expression system to produce mycobacteria-derived glycoproteins.

Integration and Validation of the Genome-Scale Metabolic Models of Pichia pastoris: A Comprehensive Update of Protein Glycosylation Pathways, Lipid and Energy Metabolism

Motivation

Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) are tools that allow predicting a phenotype from a genotype under certain environmental conditions. GEMs have been developed in the last ten years for a broad range of organisms, and are used for multiple purposes such as discovering new properties of metabolic networks, predicting new targets for metabolic engineering, as well as optimizing the cultivation conditions for biochemicals or recombinant protein production. Pichia pastoris is one of the most widely used organisms for heterologous protein expression. There are different GEMs for this methylotrophic yeast of which the most relevant and complete in the published literature are iPP668, PpaMBEL1254 and iLC915. However, these three models differ regarding certain pathways, terminology for metabolites and reactions and annotations. Moreover, GEMs for some species are typically built based on the reconstructed models of related model organisms. In these cases, some organism-specific pathways could be missing or misrepresented.

Results

In order to provide an updated and more comprehensive GEM for P. pastoris, we have reconstructed and validated a consensus model integrating and merging all three existing models. In this step a comprehensive review and integration of the metabolic pathways included in each one of these three versions was performed. In addition, the resulting iMT1026 model includes a new description of some metabolic processes. Particularly new information described in recently published literature is included, mainly related to fatty acid and sphingolipid metabolism, glycosylation and cell energetics. Finally the reconstructed model was tested and validated, by comparing the results of the simulations with available empirical physiological datasets results obtained from a wide range of experimental conditions, such as different carbon sources, distinct oxygen availability conditions, as well as producing of two different recombinant proteins. In these simulations, the iMT1026 model has shown a better performance than the previous existing models.

Engineering yeast for producing human glycoproteins: where are we now?

ABSTRACT 

Yeast has advanced as an alternative for mammalian cell culture for the production of recombinant therapeutic glycoproteins. Engineered yeast strains not only allow to mimic the human N-glycosylation pathway but also specific types of human O-glycosylation. This is of great value for therapeutic protein production and indispensable to determine the structure-function relationships of glycans on recombinant proteins. However, as the technology matures, some limitations have come up that may hamper biomedical applications and must be considered to exploit the full potential of the unprecedented glycan homogeneity obtained on relevant biopharmaceuticals. In this special report, we focus on the recent developments in N- and O-glycosylation engineering in yeasts of industrial importance, to produce recombinant therapeutics with customized glycans.

Progress in Yeast Glycosylation Engineering

While yeast are lower eukaryotic organisms, they share many common features and biological processes with higher eukaryotes. As such, yeasts have been used as model organisms to facilitate our understanding of such features and processes. To this end, a large number of powerful genetic tools have been developed to investigate and manipulate these organisms. Going hand-in-hand with these genetic tools is the ability to efficiently scale up the fermentation of these organisms, thus making them attractive hosts for the production of recombinant proteins. A key feature of producing recombinant proteins in yeast is that these proteins can be readily secreted into the culture supernatant, simplifying any downstream processing. A consequence of this secretion is that the proteins typically pass through the secretory pathway, during which they may be exposed to various posttranslational modifications. The addition of glycans is one such modification. Unfortunately, while certain aspects of glycosylation are shared between lower and higher eukaryotes, significant differences exist. Over the last two decades much research has focused on engineering the glycosylation pathways of yeast to more closely resemble those of higher eukaryotes, particularly those of humans for the production of therapeutic proteins. In the current review we shall highlight some of the key achievements in yeast glyco-engineering which have led to humanization of both the N- and O-linked glycosylation pathways.

Characterization of the Pichia pastoris protein-O-mannosyltransferase gene family

The methylotrophic yeast, Pichiapastoris, is an important organism used for the production of therapeutic proteins. However, the presence of fungal-like glycans, either N-linked or O-linked, can elicit an immune response or enable the expressed protein to bind to mannose receptors, thus reducing their efficacy. Previously we have reported the elimination of β-linked glycans in this organism. In the current report we have focused on reducing the O-linked mannose content of proteins produced in P. pastoris, thereby reducing the potential to bind to mannose receptors. The initial step in the synthesis of O-linked glycans in P. pastoris is the transfer of mannose from dolichol-phosphomannose to a target protein in the yeast secretory pathway by members of the protein-O-mannosyltransferase (PMT) family. In this report we identify and characterize the members of the P. pastoris PMT family. Like Candida albicans, P. pastoris has five PMT genes. Based on sequence homology, these PMTs can be grouped into three sub-families, with both PMT1 and PMT2 sub-families possessing two members each (PMT1 and PMT5, and PMT2 and PMT6, respectively). The remaining sub-family, PMT4, has only one member (PMT4). Through gene knockouts we show that PMT1 and PMT2 each play a significant role in O-glycosylation. Both, by gene knockouts and the use of Pmt inhibitors we were able to significantly reduce not only the degree of O-mannosylation, but also the chain-length of these glycans. Taken together, this reduction of O-glycosylation represents an important step forward in developing the P. pastoris platform as a suitable system for the production of therapeutic glycoproteins.