Strategies for improved Escherichia coli bioprocessing performance

Escherichia coli has a proven track record for successful production of anything from small molecules like organic acids to large therapeutic proteins, and has thus important applications in both R&amp;D and commercial production. The versatility of this organism in combination with the accumulated knowledge of its genome, metabolism and physiology, has allowed for development of specialty strains capable of performing very specific tasks, opening up opportunities within new areas. The work of this thesis has been devoted to alter membrane transport proteins and the regulation of these, in order for E. coli to find further application within two such important areas. The first area was vaccine development, where it was investigated if E. coli could be a natural vehicle for live vaccine production. The hypothesis was that the introduction and manipulation of a protein surface translocation system from pathogenic E. coli would result in stable expression levels of Salmonella subunit antigens on the surface of laboratory E. coli. While different antigen combinations were successfully expressed on the surface of E. coli, larger proteins were affected by proteolysis, which manipulation of cultivation conditions could reduce, but not eliminate completely. The surface expressed antigens were further capable of inducing proinflammatory responses in epithelial cells. The second area was biorefining. By altering the regulation of sugar assimilation, it was hypothesized that simultaneous uptake of the sugars present in lignocellulose hydrolyzates could be achieved, thereby improving the yield and productivity of important bio-based chemicals. The dual-layered catabolite repression was identified and successfully removed in the engineered E. coli, and the compound (R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid was produced from simultaneous assimilation of glucose, xylose and arabinose.QC 20150508</p

Improved detection and performance of surface expression from the AIDA-I autotransporter

Surface expression of recombinant proteins has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential in applications such as enzyme production, vaccine delivery and bioremediation. Autotransporters have been used for surface expression of a variety of proteins, but the expression systems reported in literature have typically been inflexible and incapable of detecting proteolysis, thereby limiting surface expression yield. In this thesis, a modular surface expression system, utilizing dual tag detection, was therefore created. It was based on the adhesin involved in diffuse adherence (AIDA-I) autotransporter, and was here used to express the model proteins SefA and H:gm on the cell surface of Escherichia coli. Due to the dual tag detection system, proteolysed H:gm could be successfully verified on the cell surface. By optimizing cultivation conditions, surface expression yield of SefA was increased by 300 %, and proteolysis reduced by 33 %. While proteolysis could not be eliminated completely, the work presented in this thesis is a major step towards a general system for surface expression of a wide range of proteins in varied applications.QC 20130506</p

Improved detection and performance of surface expression from the AIDA-I autotransporter

Surface expression of recombinant proteins has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential in applications such as enzyme production, vaccine delivery and bioremediation. Autotransporters have been used for surface expression of a variety of proteins, but the expression systems reported in literature have typically been inflexible and incapable of detecting proteolysis, thereby limiting surface expression yield. In this thesis, a modular surface expression system, utilizing dual tag detection, was therefore created. It was based on the adhesin involved in diffuse adherence (AIDA-I) autotransporter, and was here used to express the model proteins SefA and H:gm on the cell surface of Escherichia coli. Due to the dual tag detection system, proteolysed H:gm could be successfully verified on the cell surface. By optimizing cultivation conditions, surface expression yield of SefA was increased by 300 %, and proteolysis reduced by 33 %. While proteolysis could not be eliminated completely, the work presented in this thesis is a major step towards a general system for surface expression of a wide range of proteins in varied applications.QC 20130506</p

A dual tag system for facilitated detection of surface expressed proteins in <it>Escherichia coli</it>

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The discovery of the autotransporter family has provided a mechanism for surface expression of proteins in laboratory strains of <it>Escherichia coli</it>. We have previously reported the use of the AIDA-I autotransport system to express the <it>Salmonella enterica</it> serovar Enteritidis proteins SefA and H:gm. The SefA protein was successfully exposed to the medium, but the orientation of H:gm in the outer membrane could not be determined due to proteolytic cleavage of the N-terminal detection-tag. The goal of the present work was therefore to construct a vector containing elements that facilitates analysis of surface expression, especially for proteins that are sensitive to proteolysis or otherwise difficult to express.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The surface expression system pAIDA1 was created with two detection tags flanking the passenger protein. Successful expression of SefA and H:gm on the surface of <it>E. coli</it> was confirmed with fluorescently labeled antibodies specific for the N-terminal His₆-tag and the C-terminal Myc-tag. While both tags were detected during SefA expression, only the Myc-tag could be detected for H:gm. The negative signal indicates a proteolytic cleavage of this protein that removes the His₆-tag facing the medium.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Expression levels from pAIDA1 were comparable to or higher than those achieved with the formerly used vector. The presence of the Myc- but not of the His₆-tag on the cell surface during H:gm expression allowed us to confirm the hypothesis that this fusion protein was present on the surface and oriented towards the cell exterior. Western blot analysis revealed degradation products of the same molecular weight for SefA and H:gm. The size of these fragments suggests that both fusion proteins have been cleaved at a specific site close to the C-terminal end of the passenger. This proteolysis was concluded to take place either in the outer membrane or in the periplasm. Since H:gm was cleaved to a much greater extent then the three times smaller SefA, it is proposed that the longer translocation time for the larger H:gm makes it more susceptible to proteolysis.</p

MOESM1 of Increasing the production of (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate in recombinant Escherichia coli by improved cofactor supply

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Genetic map of pJBGT3RX. Table S1. Comparison of (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate production with and without tesB overexpression