Carbon source feeding strategies for recombinant protein expression in Pichia pastoris and Pichia methanolica

Pichia pastoris and Pichia methanolica have been used as expression systems for the production of recombinant protein. The main problems of the production are the slow hierarchic consumption of ethanol and acetate which cause toxicity problems due to methanol accumulation when this surpasses 0.5 gl-1. In some cases, the laboratory scale cultures does not show the methanol accumulation problems because the cells are usually washed before changing the depleted carbon source culture media, by a fresh one, supplemented with methanol; a strategy that is clearly inapplicable in the industrial productions. Other authors use to feed the methanol before the depletion of glycerol or Dglucose, but this practice does not guaranty the ethanol and acetate fast consumption; leading to methanol accumulation and toxicity problems. It was concluded that pre-induction stage strategy should be studied in detail and that it is very important to start the induction stage with a concentration of biomass as great as possible. On the other side, it is essential that there should be a monitoring of ethanol and acetate until reaching non-toxic methanol stable-concentration and these conditions should be maintained till the end of the process

Laboratory scale production of the human recombinant iduronate 2-sulfate sulfatase-Like from Pichia pastoris

Clone IDS28 of the yeast Pichia pastoris expressing the human iduronate 2-sulfate sulfatase-Like (hIDSLike) was employed for low-scale production of the recombinant enzyme in a saline culture media without phosphate. The biological activity found was between 7.3 and 29.5 nmol h-1 mg-1 of total protein. It is about 1.73 to 7 times higher than the result obtained with the same clone in shake flask culture

Cloning and shake flask expression of hrIDS-Like in Pichia pastoris

The human Iduronate-2-sulfate sulfatase (hIDS-Like) was cloned into the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris under the control of alcohol oxidase promoter (AOX1) and the -mating factor signal peptide (a-factor). Six clones were identified by PCR. Using clone IDS28, the enzyme was secreted into the culture medium, yielding a protein with an activity of 4.213 nmol.h-1.mg of total protein-1 at 72 h, in 0.5% v/v methanol. Several bands were revealed by western-blot, indicating that a P. pastoris processing was slightly different than in mammalian cells

Body mass index and complications following major gastrointestinal surgery: A prospective, international cohort study and meta-analysis

Aim Previous studies reported conflicting evidence on the effects of obesity on outcomes after gastrointestinal surgery. The aims of this study were to explore the relationship of obesity with major postoperative complications in an international cohort and to present a metaanalysis of all available prospective data. Methods This prospective, multicentre study included adults undergoing both elective and emergency gastrointestinal resection, reversal of stoma or formation of stoma. The primary end-point was 30-day major complications (Clavien\u2013Dindo Grades III\u2013V). A systematic search was undertaken for studies assessing the relationship between obesity and major complications after gastrointestinal surgery. Individual patient meta-analysis was used to analyse pooled results. Results This study included 2519 patients across 127 centres, of whom 560 (22.2%) were obese. Unadjusted major complication rates were lower in obese vs normal weight patients (13.0% vs 16.2%, respectively), but this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.863) on multivariate analysis for patients having surgery for either malignant or benign conditions. Individual patient meta-analysis demonstrated that obese patients undergoing surgery formalignancy were at increased risk of major complications (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.49\u20132.96, P < 0.001), whereas obese patients undergoing surgery for benign indications were at decreased risk (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.46\u20130.75, P < 0.001) compared to normal weight patients. Conclusions In our international data, obesity was not found to be associated with major complications following gastrointestinal surgery. Meta-analysis of available prospective data made a novel finding of obesity being associated with different outcomes depending on whether patients were undergoing surgery for benign or malignant disease

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field