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Enhanced recombinant protein production in CHO cell continuous cultures under growth-inhibiting conditions is associated with an arrested cell cycle in G1/G0 phase. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0277620. [PMCID: PMC9662745 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Low temperature and sodium butyrate (NaBu) are two of the most used productivity-enhancing strategies in CHO cell cultures during biopharmaceutical manufacturing. While these two approaches alter the balance in the reciprocal relationship between cell growth and productivity, we do not fully understand their mechanisms of action beyond a gross cell growth inhibition. Here, we used continuous culture to evaluate the differential effect of low temperature and NaBu supplementation on CHO cell performance and gene expression profile. We found that an increase in cell-productivity under growth-inhibiting conditions was associated with the arrest of cells in the G1/G0 phase. A transcriptome analysis revealed that the molecular mechanisms by which low temperature and NaBu arrested cell cycle in G1/G0 differed from each other through the deregulation of different cell cycle checkpoints and regulators. The individual transcriptome changes in pattern observed in response to low temperature and NaBu were retained when these two strategies were combined, leading to an additive effect in arresting the cell cycle in G1/G0 phase. The findings presented here offer novel molecular insights about the cell cycle regulation during the CHO cell bioprocessing and its implications for increased recombinant protein production. This data provides a background for engineering productivity-enhanced CHO cell lines for continuous manufacturing.
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Torres M, Akhtar S, McKenzie EA, Dickson AJ. Temperature Down-Shift Modifies Expression of UPR-/ERAD-Related Genes and Enhances Production of a Chimeric Fusion Protein in CHO Cells. Biotechnol J 2020; 16:e2000081. [PMID: 32271992 DOI: 10.1002/biot.202000081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Revised: 03/29/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Low culture temperature enhances the cell-specific productivity of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing varied recombinant (r-) proteins, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Regulation of unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway genes, such as transcriptional regulatory factors and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident proteins, appear to be involved in the improvements of r-protein production under low temperature conditions. The transcriptional regulation of UPR-specific targets is studied in response to decreased culture temperature in relation to production of a difficult-to-express protein. A clonally-derived CHO cell line expressing a chimeric fusion protein (human erythropoietin [hEPO] linked to a murine Fc region, hEPO-Fc) is evaluated in terms of growth, metabolism, r-protein production and UPR-/ER associated degradation (ERAD)-specific gene expression at standard (37 °C) and low (32 °C) temperature in batch and fed-batch systems. Low temperature decreased peak cell density, improved viability, generated cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase and enhanced hEPO-Fc expression in both batch and fed-batch cultures. A low culture temperature significantly upregulated genes encoding UPR-specific transcriptional activators (xbp1s, ddit3, and atf5) and ER-resident proteins (grp78, grp94, trib3, and ero1α), that are associated with folding and processing of proteins within the ER. Further, low culture temperature decreased expression of genes involved in ERAD (edem3, sels, herpud1, and syvn1) indicating a decreased potential for protein degradation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Torres
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
| | - Samia Akhtar
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
| | - Edward A McKenzie
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.,Protein Expression Facility, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
| | - Alan J Dickson
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
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Torres M, Berrios J, Rigual Y, Latorre Y, Vergara M, Dickson AJ, Altamirano C. Metabolic flux analysis during galactose and lactate co-consumption reveals enhanced energy metabolism in continuous CHO cell cultures. Chem Eng Sci 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2019.04.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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Gomez N, Wieczorek A, Lu F, Bruno R, Diaz L, Agrawal NJ, Daris K. Culture temperature modulates half antibody and aggregate formation in a Chinese hamster ovary cell line expressing a bispecific antibody. Biotechnol Bioeng 2018; 115:2930-2940. [DOI: 10.1002/bit.26803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2018] [Revised: 07/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Gomez
- Pre-Pivotal Drug Substance Technology, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks; California
| | | | - Fang Lu
- Pre-Pivotal Drug Substance Technology, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks; California
| | - Richele Bruno
- Discovery Research, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks; California
| | - Luis Diaz
- Pre-Pivotal Drug Substance Technology, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks; California
| | | | - Kristi Daris
- Pre-Pivotal Drug Substance Technology, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks; California
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Vergara M, Torres M, Müller A, Avello V, Acevedo C, Berrios J, Reyes JG, Valdez-Cruz NA, Altamirano C. High glucose and low specific cell growth but not mild hypothermia improve specific r-protein productivity in chemostat culture of CHO cells. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202098. [PMID: 30114204 PMCID: PMC6095543 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 07/27/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
In the biopharmaceutical sector, Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have become the host of choice to produce recombinant proteins (r-proteins) due to their capacity for correct protein folding, assembly, and posttranslational modification. However, the production of therapeutic r-proteins in CHO cells is expensive and presents insufficient production yields for certain proteins. Effective culture strategies to increase productivity (qp) include a high glucose concentration in the medium and mild hypothermia (28–34 °C), but these changes lead to a reduced specific growth rate. To study the individual and combined impacts of glucose concentration, specific growth rate and mild hypothermia on culture performance and cell metabolism, we analyzed chemostat cultures of recombinant human tissue plasminogen activator (rh-tPA)-producing CHO cell lines fed with three glucose concentrations in feeding media (20, 30 and 40 mM), at two dilution rates (0.01 and 0.018 1/h) and two temperatures (33 and 37 °C). The results indicated significant changes in cell growth, cell cycle distribution, metabolism, and rh-tPA productivity in response to the varying environmental culture conditions. High glucose feed led to constrained cell growth, increased specific rh-tPA productivity and a higher number of cells in the G2/M phase. Low specific growth rate and temperature (33 °C) reduced glucose consumption and lactate production rates. Our findings indicated that a reduced specific growth rate coupled with high feed glucose significantly improves r-protein productivity in CHO cells. We also observed that low temperature significantly reduced qp, but not cell growth when dilution rate was manipulated, regardless of the glucose concentration or dilution rate. In contrast, we determined that feed glucose concentration and consumption rate were the dominant aspects of the growth and productivity in CHO cells by using multivariate analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauricio Vergara
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
- Institute of Chemistry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
| | - Mauro Torres
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Andrea Müller
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Verónica Avello
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
- Center of Biotechnology, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Cristian Acevedo
- Center of Biotechnology, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
- Institute of Physics, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Julio Berrios
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Juan G. Reyes
- Institute of Chemistry, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
| | - Norma A. Valdez-Cruz
- Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Claudia Altamirano
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
- Regional Center for Healthy Food Studies (CREAS) R17A10001, CONICYT REGIONAL, GORE Valparaiso, Chile
- * E-mail:
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Torres M, Zúñiga R, Gutierrez M, Vergara M, Collazo N, Reyes J, Berrios J, Aguillon JC, Molina MC, Altamirano C. Mild hypothermia upregulates myc and xbp1s expression and improves anti-TNFα production in CHO cells. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0194510. [PMID: 29566086 PMCID: PMC5864046 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Accepted: 02/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most frequently used host for commercial production of therapeutic proteins. However, their low protein productivity in culture is the main hurdle to overcome. Mild hypothermia has been established as an effective strategy to enhance protein specific productivity, although the causes of such improvement still remain unclear. The self-regulation of global transcriptional regulatory factors, such as Myc and XBP1s, seems to be involved in increased the recombinant protein production at low temperature. This study evaluated the impact of low temperature in CHO cell cultures on myc and xbp1s expression and their effects on culture performance and cell metabolism. Two anti-TNFα producing CHO cell lines were selected considering two distinct phenotypes: i.e. maximum cell growth, (CN1) and maximum specific anti-TNFα production (CN2), and cultured at 37, 33 and 31°C in a batch system. Low temperature led to an increase in the cell viability, the expression of the recombinant anti-TNFα and the production of anti-TNFα both in CN1 and CN2. The higher production of anti-TNFα in CN2 was mainly associated with the large expression of anti-TNFα. Under mild hypothermia myc and xbp1s expression levels were directly correlated to the maximal viable cell density and the specific anti-TNFα productivity, respectively. Moreover, cells showed a simultaneous metabolic shift from production to consumption of lactate and from consumption to production of glutamine, which were exacerbated by reducing culture temperature and coincided with the increased anti-TNFα production. Our current results provide new insights of the regulation of myc and xbp1s in CHO cells at low temperature, and suggest that the presence and magnitude of the metabolic shift might be a relevant metabolic marker of productive cell line.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Torres
- Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Roberto Zúñiga
- Centro de InmunoBiotecnología, Programa D. de Inmunología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédica (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Doctorado en Química, Universidad República Oriental del Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Matias Gutierrez
- Centro de InmunoBiotecnología, Programa D. de Inmunología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédica (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Mauricio Vergara
- Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
- Doctorado en Química, Universidad República Oriental del Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Norberto Collazo
- Centro de InmunoBiotecnología, Programa D. de Inmunología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédica (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Juan Reyes
- Instituto de Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
| | - Julio Berrios
- Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Juan Carlos Aguillon
- Centro de InmunoBiotecnología, Programa D. de Inmunología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédica (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Maria Carmen Molina
- Centro de InmunoBiotecnología, Programa D. de Inmunología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédica (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Claudia Altamirano
- Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
- CREAS CONICYT Regional GORE, Valparaiso, Chile
- * E-mail:
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Goey CH, Bell D, Kontoravdi C. Mild hypothermic culture conditions affect residual host cell protein composition post-Protein A chromatography. MAbs 2018; 10:476-487. [PMID: 29381421 PMCID: PMC5916555 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2018.1433977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Host cell proteins (HCPs) are endogenous impurities, and their proteolytic and binding properties can compromise the integrity, and, hence, the stability and efficacy of recombinant therapeutic proteins such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Nonetheless, purification of mAbs currently presents a challenge because they often co-elute with certain HCP species during the capture step of protein A affinity chromatography. A Quality-by-Design (QbD) strategy to overcome this challenge involves identifying residual HCPs and tracing their source to the harvested cell culture fluid (HCCF) and the corresponding cell culture operating parameters. Then, problematic HCPs in HCCF may be reduced by cell engineering or culture process optimization. Here, we present experimental results linking cell culture temperature and post-protein A residual HCP profile. We had previously reported that Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures conducted at standard physiological temperature and with a shift to mild hypothermia on day 5 produced HCCF of comparable product titer and HCP concentration, but with considerably different HCP composition. In this study, we show that differences in HCP variety at harvest cascaded to downstream purification where different residual HCPs were present in the two sets of samples post-protein A purification. To detect low-abundant residual HCPs, we designed a looping liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method with continuous expansion of a preferred, exclude, and targeted peptide list. Mild hypothermic cultures produced 20% more residual HCP species, especially cell membrane proteins, distinct from the control. Critically, we identified that half of the potentially immunogenic residual HCP species were different between the two sets of samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cher Hui Goey
- a Department of Chemical Engineering , Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London , London , U.K
| | - David Bell
- b Department of Medicine , Imperial College London , London , U.K
| | - Cleo Kontoravdi
- a Department of Chemical Engineering , Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London , London , U.K
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Alves CS, Dobrowsky TM. Strategies and Considerations for Improving Expression of "Difficult to Express" Proteins in CHO Cells. Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1603:1-23. [PMID: 28493120 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6972-2_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Despite substantial advances in the field of mammalian expression, there are still proteins that are characterized as difficult to express. Determining the expression bottleneck requires troubleshooting techniques specific for the given molecule and host. The complex array of intracellular processes involved in protein expression includes transcription, protein folding, post-translation processing, and secretion. Challenges in any of these steps could result in low protein expression, while the inherent properties of the molecule itself may limit its production via mechanisms such as cytotoxicity or inherent instability. Strategies to identify the rate-limiting step and subsequently improve expression and production are discussed here.
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Kallehauge TB, Kol S, Rørdam Andersen M, Kroun Damgaard C, Lee GM, Faustrup Kildegaard H. Endoplasmic reticulum-directed recombinant mRNA displays subcellular localization equal to endogenous mRNA during transient expression in CHO cells. Biotechnol J 2016; 11:1362-1367. [PMID: 27624596 DOI: 10.1002/biot.201600347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2016] [Revised: 08/12/2016] [Accepted: 08/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
When expressing pharmaceutical recombinant proteins in mammalian cells, the protein is commonly directed through the secretory pathway, in a signal peptide-dependent manner, to acquire specific post-translational modifications and to facilitate secretion into the culture medium. One key premise for this is the direction of the mRNA encoding the recombinant protein to the surface of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for subsequent protein translocation into the secretory pathway. To evaluate the efficiency of this process in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, the subcellular localization of recombinant mRNA encoding the therapeutic proteins, erythropoietin (EPO) and Rituximab, was determined. The results show that ER-directed recombinant mRNAs exhibited an efficient recruitment to the ER when compared to an endogenous ER-directed mRNA, with no cytoplasmic translation of ER-directed recombinant proteins observed. These observations indicate that the recombinant mRNA, encoding ER-directed proteins, follows the same distribution pattern as endogenous mRNA directed towards the ER. Furthermore, the previous established fractionation method proves to be an efficient tool to study not only recombinant mRNA localization, but also recombinant protein trafficking between the ER and cytosol in CHO cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Beuchert Kallehauge
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Hørsholm, Denmark.
| | - Stefan Kol
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Hørsholm, Denmark
| | | | | | - Gyun Min Lee
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Hørsholm, Denmark
- Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea
| | - Helene Faustrup Kildegaard
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Hørsholm, Denmark.
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Bedoya-López A, Estrada K, Sanchez-Flores A, Ramírez OT, Altamirano C, Segovia L, Miranda-Ríos J, Trujillo-Roldán MA, Valdez-Cruz NA. Effect of Temperature Downshift on the Transcriptomic Responses of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells Using Recombinant Human Tissue Plasminogen Activator Production Culture. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0151529. [PMID: 26991106 PMCID: PMC4798216 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2015] [Accepted: 02/28/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Recombinant proteins are widely used as biopharmaceuticals, but their production by mammalian cell culture is expensive. Hence, improvement of bioprocess productivity is greatly needed. A temperature downshift (TDS) from 37°C to 28–34°C is an effective strategy to expand the productive life period of cells and increase their productivity (qp). Here, TDS in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell cultures, initially grown at 37°C and switched to 30°C during the exponential growth phase, resulted in a 1.6-fold increase in the qp of recombinant human tissue plasminogen activator (rh-tPA). The transcriptomic response using next-generation sequencing (NGS) was assessed to characterize the cellular behavior associated with TDS. A total of 416 (q > 0.8) and 3,472 (q > 0.9) differentially expressed transcripts, with more than a 1.6-fold change at 24 and 48 h post TDS, respectively, were observed in cultures with TDS compared to those at constant 37°C. In agreement with the extended cell survival resulting from TDS, transcripts related to cell growth arrest that controlled cell proliferation without the activation of the DNA damage response, were differentially expressed. Most upregulated genes were related to energy metabolism in mitochondria, mitochondrial biogenesis, central metabolism, and avoidance of apoptotic cell death. The gene coding for rh-tPA was not differentially expressed, but fluctuations were detected in the transcripts encoding proteins involved in the secretory machinery, particularly in glycosylation. Through NGS the dynamic processes caused by TDS were assessed in this biological system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Bedoya-López
- Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Karel Estrada
- Unidad Universitaria de Apoyo Bioinformático, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor. México
| | - Alejandro Sanchez-Flores
- Unidad Universitaria de Apoyo Bioinformático, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor. México
| | - Octavio T. Ramírez
- Departamento de Medicina Molecular y Bioprocesos, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor. México
| | - Claudia Altamirano
- Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Lorenzo Segovia
- Departamento de Ingeniería Celular y Biocatálisis. Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mor. México
| | - Juan Miranda-Ríos
- Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán
- Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Norma A. Valdez-Cruz
- Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
- * E-mail:
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