Effects of glycerol supply and specific growth rate on methanol-free production of CALB by P. pastoris : functional characterisation of a novel promoter

As Pichia pastoris (syn. Komagataella sp.) yeast can secrete pure recombinant proteins at high rates, it is a desirable production system. The function of a novel synthetic variant of the AOX1 promoter was characterised comprehensively using a strain secreting Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) as a model. A new time-saving approach was introduced to determine, in only one experiment, the hitherto unknown relationship between specific product formation rate (qp) and specific growth rate (μ). Tight control of recombinant protein formation was possible in the absence of methanol, while using glycerol as a sole carbon/energy source. CALB was not synthesised during batch cultivation in excess glycerol (>10 g l-1) and at a growth rate close to μmax (0.15 h−1). Between 0.017 and 0.115 h−1 in glycerol-limited fedbatch cultures, basal levels of qp > 0.4 mg g−1 h−1 CALB were reached, independent of the μ at which the culture grew. At μ > 0.04 h−1, an elevated qp occurred temporarily during the first 20 h after changing to fedbatch mode and decreased thereafter to basal. In order to accelerate the determination of the qp(μ) relationship (kinetics of product formation), the entire μ range was covered in a single fedbatch experiment. By linearly increasing and decreasing glycerol addition rates, μ values were repeatedly shifted from 0.004 to 0.074 h−1 and vice versa. Changes in qp were related to changes in μ. A rough estimation of μ range suitable for production was possible in a single fedbatch, thus significantly reducing the experimental input over previous approaches comprising several experiments

Production and secretion dynamics of prokaryotic Penicillin G acylase in Pichia pastoris

Erworben im Rahmen der Schweizer Nationallizenzen (http://www.nationallizenzen.ch)To take full advantage of recombinant Pichia pastoris (Komagataella phaffii) as a production system for heterologous proteins, the complex protein secretory process should be understood and optimised by circumventing bottlenecks. Typically, little or no attention has been paid to the fate of newly synthesised protein inside the cell, or its passage through the secretory pathway, and only the secreted product is measured. However, the system's productivity (i.e. specific production rate qp), includes productivity of secreted (qp,extra) plus intracellularly accumulated (qp,intra) protein. In bioreactor cultivations with P. pastoris producing penicillin G acylase, we studied the dynamics of product formation, i.e. both the specific product secretion (qp,extra) and product retention (qp,intra) as functions of time, as well as the kinetics, i.e. productivity in relation to specific growth rate (μ). Within the time course, we distinguished (I) an initial phase with constant productivities, where the majority of product accumulated inside the cells, and qp,extra, which depended on μ in a bell-shaped manner; (II) a transition phase, in which intracellular product accumulation reached a maximum and productivities (intracellular, extracellular, overall) were changing; (III) a new phase with constant productivities, where secretion prevailed over intracellular accumulation, qp,extra was linearly related to μ and was up to three times higher than in initial phase (I), while qp,intra decreased 4-6-fold. We show that stress caused by heterologous protein production induces cellular imbalance leading to a secretory bottleneck that ultimately reaches equilibrium. This understanding may help to develop cultivation strategies for improving protein secretion from P. pastoris

Cultural confrontation reflected in fictional writing in Canada and in Switzerland

Résumé: Les Canadiens aiment évoquer la Suisse lorsqu'ils discutent des problèmes que posent les ethnies linguistiques. Ils considèrent que la Suisse est le pays idéal où ces difficultés ont été solutionnées au mieux et s'accusent de ne pas y être eux-mêmes parvenus. L'introduction de ce mémoire a pour but d'exposer les événements historiques qui ont permis l'acheminement de la Suisse jusqu'à son état actuel. J'essaie de faire ressortir les grandes divergences qui existent à la fois au Canada et dans la Confédération Helvétique entre les ethnies linguistiques. Je m'y efforce de démontrer que cet état de choses mène nécessairement à trouver des solutions différentes dans chacune des deux nations.||Abstract : When Canadians speak about the problems of biculturalism, they often bring Switzerland into the discussion for reasons of comparison. Why can't Canadians get along with each other as easily as do the Swiss, although in that country there are four language communities and not two which have to live together? The aim of the present introduction is to show the Canadian reader the historical, cultural and political background of Switzerland in order to make him see how different it is from his own country. The aim of the present literary investigation is to find out what cultural confrontation can be found in fiction in the two countries, and how the differences, if they occur, can be related to the different historical and political backgrounds

Cultural confrontation reflected in fictional writing in Canada and in Switzerland

Résumé: Les Canadiens aiment évoquer la Suisse lorsqu'ils discutent des problèmes que posent les ethnies linguistiques. Ils considèrent que la Suisse est le pays idéal où ces difficultés ont été solutionnées au mieux et s'accusent de ne pas y être eux-mêmes parvenus. L'introduction de ce mémoire a pour but d'exposer les événements historiques qui ont permis l'acheminement de la Suisse jusqu'à son état actuel. J'essaie de faire ressortir les grandes divergences qui existent à la fois au Canada et dans la Confédération Helvétique entre les ethnies linguistiques. Je m'y efforce de démontrer que cet état de choses mène nécessairement à trouver des solutions différentes dans chacune des deux nations.||Abstract : When Canadians speak about the problems of biculturalism, they often bring Switzerland into the discussion for reasons of comparison. Why can't Canadians get along with each other as easily as do the Swiss, although in that country there are four language communities and not two which have to live together? The aim of the present introduction is to show the Canadian reader the historical, cultural and political background of Switzerland in order to make him see how different it is from his own country. The aim of the present literary investigation is to find out what cultural confrontation can be found in fiction in the two countries, and how the differences, if they occur, can be related to the different historical and political backgrounds

Pyrene Modification Leads to Increased Catalytic Activity in Minimal Hammerhead Ribozymes

Highly active variants of minimal hammerhead ribozymes are generated by the replacement of substantial parts of stem-loop structures with pyrene building blocks

Recombinant yeast technology at the cutting edge : robust tools for both designed catalysts and new biologicals

Health and safety concerns, enhanced quality criteria, and environmental sustainability, have prompted investigations into production using recombinant yeasts as a feasible alternative for isolation of proteins from natural animal or plant sources, as well as for processes utilising either mammalian cell cultures or bacterial systems. An overview of recent research papers and review articles provides readers with a comprehensive insight into the field of next-generation yeast expression systems. Major breakthroughs in recombinant yeast technology linked to Pichia pastoris are (i) the public availability of tools to generate proteins with tailored and highly homogenous N-glycan structures, similar to the forms assembled in humans, (ii) the recent accomplishment of the annotation of its genome sequence, and finally, (iii) the presence of the first few (non-glycosylated) therapeutic proteins in Pichia on the market. The P. pastoris expression platform is now well developed, as proven by multiple products used in human and veterinary medicine and in industry (e.g. enzymes for chemical synthesis and for the modification/synthesis of pharmaceuticals, drug target proteins used for structural analysis or for high throughput screening, proteins for diagnostics, proteinous biomaterials, vaccines, and therapeutic proteins). Nevertheless, the complexity of protein analysis (monitoring) continues to restrict process development for recombinant products. Drawing on combined expertise in molecular biology and process technology, the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) at the Zurich University of Applied Science (ZHAW) and its international partners have developed solutions which (i) fully eliminate (or partially reduce) the use of methanol, which is undesirable in high-cell-density and high-productivity processes, (ii) match both strain construction and process design with the target protein characteristics to the benefit of the cells’ physiological shape, and (iii) allow multi-gene expressions to be balanced to achieve custom tailored and reproducible protein quality at the level of (engineered) posttranslational modifications. In addition to enabling superior product quality specifications to be achieved with reduced development time, these innovations have helped the industries involved to minimise financial risks and the risk of failure, as well as create an opportunity for (new) drugs with improved functionality at low cost

Flow-cytometric detection of changes in the physiological state of E. coli expressing a heterologous membrane protein during carbon-limited fedbatch cultivation

The key to optimizing productivity during industrial fermentations is the ability to rapidly monitor and interpret the physiological state of single microbial cells in a population and to recognize and characterize different sub-populations. Here, a flow cytometry-based method for the reproducible detection of changes in membrane function and/or structure of recombinant E. coli JM101 (pSPZ3) expressing xylene monooxygenase (XMO), was developed. XMO expression led to compromised but not permeabilized cell membranes. This was deduced from the fact that recombinant cells only stained with ethidium bromide (EB) and not with propidium iodide (PI). During the glucose-limited fedbatch cultivation, an increase from 25% to 95% of EB-stained cells was observed, occurring between 2 and 5 h after induction. Control experiments confirmed that this increase was due to the recombinant protein production and not caused by any possible effects of varying substrate availability, high cell density, plasmid replication or the presence of the inducing agent. We hypothesize that the integration of the recombinant protein into the cell membrane physically disrupted the functionality of the efflux pumps, thus resulting in EB-staining of the recombinant cells. This method enabled us to detect changes in the physiological state of single cells 2-4 h before other indications of partial cell damage, such as unbalanced growth, acetate accumulation and an increased CO(2) production rate, were observed. This method therefore shows promise with respect to the further development of an early-warning system to prevent sudden productivity decreases in processes with recombinant E. coli expressing heterologous membrane proteins

Combined Use of Fluorescent Dyes and Flow Cytometry To Quantify the Physiological State of Pichia pastoris during the Production of Heterologous Proteins in High-Cell-Density Fed-Batch Cultures▿ †

Matching both the construction of a recombinant strain and the process design with the characteristics of the target protein has the potential to significantly enhance bioprocess performance, robustness, and reproducibility. The factors affecting the physiological state of recombinant Pichia pastoris Mut+ (methanol utilization-positive) strains and their cell membranes were quantified at the individual cell level using a combination of staining with fluorescent dyes and flow cytometric enumeration. Cell vitalities were found to range from 5 to 95% under various process conditions in high-cell-density fed-batch cultures, with strains producing either porcine trypsinogen or horseradish peroxidase extracellularly. Impaired cell vitality was observed to be the combined effect of production of recombinant protein, low pH, and high cell density. Vitality improved when any one of these stress factors was excluded. At a pH value of 4, which is commonly applied to counter proteolysis, recombinant strains exhibited severe physiological stress, whereas strains without heterologous genes were not affected. Physiologically compromised cells were also found to be increasingly sensitive to methanol when it accumulated in the culture broth. The magnitude of the response varied when different reporters were combined with either the native AOX1 promoter or its d6* variant, which differ in both strength and regulation. Finally, the quantitative assessment of the physiology of individual cells enables the implementation of innovative concepts in bioprocess development. Such concepts are in contrast to the frequently used paradigm, which always assumes a uniform cell population, because differentiation between the individual cells is not possible with methods commonly used