High level expression of active recombinant human interleukin-3 in Pichia pastoris

Interleukin-3 (IL-3) is a hematopoietic growth factor involved in the survival, proliferation and differentiation of multipotent hematopoietic cells. A DNA fragment containing the mature human IL-3 sequence was cloned into pPICZαA, generating a fusion protein with the alpha factor signal sequence in the N-terminus and 6×His as well as c-Myc tags in the C-terminus. The resulting plasmid was integrated into the genome of Pichia pastoris strain X-33. Recombinant yeast transformants with high-level rhIL-3 production were identified, secreting as much as 26 mg/L rhIL-3 after 4 days of induction by methanol in flask. The rhIL-3 was purified by Ni⁺-NTA affinity chromatography, followed by DEAE anion exchange, yielding over 95% highly purified rhIL-3 preparation at about 21 mg/L. Mass spectrometry and MALDI-TOF-TOF analysis of the purified rIL-3 showed molecular weights of 18995.694 Da and 22317.469 Da, due to different degrees of N-linked glycosylation. The biological activity of the rhIL-3 proteins was confirmed by its ability to support ba/f3 cells proliferation and activate the ERK signaling pathways. The results demonstrate that the experimental procedure we have developed can produce a large amount of active recombinant human IL-3 from P. pastoris.     

Expression, Identification and Characterize of CD25-Binding Epitope Modified Human IL-2 in Pichia pastoris

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) plays important roles in variety of immune functions and it is widely used in the medication. But in recent years it was reported that vascular leak syndrome (VLS) was induced by IL-2. Evidences showed that the interaction of IL-2 and IL-2Rαβγ (CD25) caused VLS. Thus, this experiment modified the CD25-binding epitope in human IL-2 (hIL-2) to minimize the side effect of IL-2 in the medication. In this study, a recombinant human interleukin 2 (rhIL-2) was expressed in Pichia (P.) pastoris. An effective strategy was established to express rhIL-2 protein in 120 L scale and the optimal purification procedure was investigated. The purity of rhIL-2 in final product was about 98 % and the concentration of the rhIL-2 was 0.45 mg/mL. Bioactivity analysis showed that the purified rhIL-2 protein displayed high activity on proliferation of CTLL-2 cells and increased the ratio of CD4⁺/CD8⁺. It indicates that the target protein is expressed and the character of the rhIL-2 has high activity. This study provides a strategy for large-scale production of bioactive rhIL-2 protein using P. pastoris as an expression host.     

A simple novel method for the preparation of noncovalent homodimeric, biologically active human interleukin 10 in Escherichia coli-enhancing protein expression by degenerate PCR of 5' DNA in the open reading frame

DNA inserts encoding human interleukin 10 (hIL-10), optimized for codon usage and secondary RNA structure, were purchased from several commercial sources and subcloned into a pMon vector. Despite the optimization, protein expression was nil. We therefore subjected the 5′ segment of the cDNA encoding N-terminal amino acids 2–11 to degenerate PCR in order to create a small library of 130 K theoretical cDNA combinations that would not change the respective amino acid sequence and tested their expression. After screening over 320 colonies 10 hIL-10 clones encoding the original amino acid sequence were identified. Three nucleotide substitutions were sufficient to ensure reasonable protein expression. Subsequently, hIL-10 was expressed in Escherichia coli, refolded and purified to homogeneity, yielding over 95% electrophoretically pure noncovalent homodimeric protein, which was biologically active in MC/9 cells. The yield of recombinant hIL-10 from 10 L of fermentation culture was 60 mg and a protocol for its long-term storage as a carrier-free lyophilized powder at −20° was developed.     

Expression,purification and characterization of recombinant human interleukin-22 in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pichia pastoris</Emphasis>

Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is a member of the IL-10 family. Its potential in clinical use has been highlighted for its important roles in promoting antimicrobial defense and preventing epithelial damages. Previous studies have reported that IL-22 can be expressed using prokaryotic systems and purified from inclusion bodies, however the recovery rate was poor. To produce functional IL-22 with a high yield, human IL-22 was inserted into the eukaryotic expression vector pPICZαA and transformed into Pichia pastoris. The expression of recombinant human IL-22 (rhIL-22) was induced by methanol and accounted for about 85% of the total secreted proteins. A simple purification strategy was established to purify the rhIL-22 from the culture supernatant, yielding 100 mg/l at 90% purity by chromatography with a SP Sepharose FF column. Bioactivity analysis showed the purified rhIL-22 demonstrated a specific activity that was comparable with the commercial one. This study provides a new strategy for large-scale production of bioactive IL-22 for use in basic studies and therapeutic applications.     

High expression and rapid purification of recombinant scorpion anti-insect neurotoxin AaIT

Scorpion long-chain insect neurotoxins are potentially valuable as agricultural pest control agents. Unfortunately, natural insect neurotoxins are limited in quantity and difficult to obtain from scorpion venom. To determine if recombinant insect neurotoxin is active to insects, we expressed and purified an AaIT fusion protein in Escherichia coli and a recombinant AaIT protein in Pichia pastoris. To quantify AaIT expression in P. pichia colonies, we produced highly sensitive antiserum against AaIT in BALB/c mice. P. pastoris transformants that highly expressed AaIT were selected based on immunoassay with the AaIT antiserum. The P. pastoris recombinant AaIT was rapidly purified in a new and efficient two-step method that eliminated all contaminant proteins using ultracentrifugal filters with molecular weight cut-off 10 kDa and 3 kDa. With this new protocol 10 mg of purified recombinant AaIT was harvested from a 1-l P. pastoris culture. Bioactivity tests indicated that the P. pastoris recombinant AaIT was highly toxic to cockroach larvae, but the E. coli AaIT fusion protein was not toxic to cockroaches. The new expression, screening, and purification protocol described here was efficient for quickly producing high concentrations of pure, bioactive protein.     

High-level secretory expression, purification and characterization of Ailuropoda melanoleuca growth hormone in Pichia pastoris

Growth hormone is one of the most important hormones, which is involved in many reproductive processes of giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca. In this study, the mature peptide of A. melanoleuca growth hormone (AmGH) was successfully expressed and secreted in Pichia pastoris under the control of AOX1 promoter. The expression condition for AmGH in P. pastoris, such as the expression time, pH value and methanol concentration in the BMMY were optimized and the AmGH expression level is about 100 mg/L using GS115 recombinant under optimized condition (96 h of 1.5% methanol induction). The secreted nascent AmGH were purified using ammonium sulfate fractionation. The mature AmGH protein exhibited a molecular mass of approximately 22 kDa on SDS–PAGE. This study would provide a new opportunity for large-scale expression and purification of AmGH, which might facilitate studies on the biological activity of AmGH.     

High yield and purification of recombinant human apolipoprotein E3 in Pichia pastoris

Apolipoprotein E3 (ApoE3) is an important apolipoprotein in plasma and plays a critical role in lipid transport and cholesterol homeostasis. As the only natural source of this protein, human blood cannot provide large-scale ApoE3 for research and applications. Therefore, in our study, a Pichia pastoris expression system was first used to obtain a high-level expression of secreted, recombinant human ApoE3 (rhApoE3).The full-length sequence encoding ApoE3, gained by RT-PCR, was inserted into the pPICZαC vector and transformed into P. pastoris strain X33, and then the high expression transformants with zeocin resistance were obtained. The growth conditions of the transformant strains were optimized in 50 ml conical tubes including pH and inducing time. After induction with methanol, the expression level of rhApoE3 was 120 mg/L in 80 L fermentor. RhApoE3 was purified more than 94% purity using SP Sepharose ion exchange chromatography and source™ 30RPC. A preliminary biochemical characterization of purified rhApoE3 was performed by analyzing the ability of inhibiting PDGF-induced proliferation of rat coronary artery smooth muscle cells (SMCs), and the results demonstrated that the function of purified rhApoE3 was similar to natural human ApoE3.     

High-level expression of recombinant phospholipase C from Bacillus cereus in Pichia pastoris and its characterization

The phospholipase c (plc) gene from Bacillus cereus was cloned into the pPICZC vector and integrated into the genome of Pichia pastoris. The phospholipase C (PLC) when expressed in P. pastoris was fused to the -factor secretion signal peptide of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and secreted into a culture medium. Recombinant P. pastoris X-33 had a clear PLC band at 28.5 kDa and produced an extracellular PLC with an activity of 678 U mg^–1 protein which was more than a recombinant P. pastoris GS115 (552 U mg^–1 protein) or KM71H (539 U mg^–1 protein). The PLCs were purified using a HiTrap affinity column with a specific activity of 1335 U mg^–1 protein by P. pastoris GS115, 1176 U mg^–1 protein by P. pastoris KM71H and 1522 U mg^–1 protein by P. pastoris X-33. The three recombinant PLCs had high PLC activity in the low pH range of 4-5 and higher thermal stability (e.g. stable at 75 °C) than the wild-type PLC from B. cereus. Some organic solvents, surfactants and metal ions, e.g. methanol, acetone, Co²⁺ and Mn²⁺ etc., also influenced the activity of the recombinant PLCs.     

人IL-29的定点突变及抗肿瘤活性初步分析

为探讨人白细胞介素-29(h IL-29)变异体的抗肿瘤活性,根据h IL-29成熟肽的生物信息学分析数据,采用大引物PCR方法对其肽链第33位赖氨酸、35位精氨酸的编码基因进行定点突变,获得的h IL-29变异体基因构建重组真核表达质粒转化毕赤酵母(Pichia pastoris)GS115进行发酵表达,经纯化得到重组人白细胞介素-29变异体蛋白(rh IL-29mut33,35)。经CCK-8法检测抗肿瘤细胞增殖的数据显示,rh IL-29mut33,35对肝癌细胞BEL7402、结肠癌细胞HCT8和胃癌细胞SGC7901的增殖均具有抑制作用,高剂量组对这3种肿瘤细胞的增殖抑制率分别为(30.99±1.58)%、(22.47±1.37)%和(32.05±2.02)%,而且抗增殖作用比野生型rh IL-29的更强(P0.01),表明变异体rh IL-29mut33,35具有潜在的医药开发价值。     

Enantioselective synthesis of ethyl-(S)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoate (S-HPPE) from ethyl-3-oxo-3-phenylpropanoate using recombinant fatty acid synthase (FAS2) from Kluyveromyces lactis KCTC 7133 in Pichia pastoris GS115

Various yeast strains were examined for the microbial reduction of ethyl-3-oxo-3-phenylpropanoate (OPPE) to ethyl-(S)-3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoate (S-HPPE), which is the chiral intermediate for the synthesis of a serotonin uptake inhibitor, Fluoxetine. Kluyveromyces lactis KCTC 7133 was found as the most efficient strain in terms of high yield (83% at 50 mM) and high optical purity ee > 99% of S-HPPE. Based on the protein purification, activity analysis and the genomic analysis, a fatty acid synthase (FAS) was identified as the responsible β-ketoreductase. To increase the productivity, a recombinant Pichia pastoris GS115 over-expressing FAS2 (α-subunit of FAS) of K. lactis KCTC7133 was constructed. In the optimized media condition, the recombinant P. pastoris functionally over-expressed the FAS2. Recombinant P. pastoris showed 2.3-fold higher reductase activity compared with wild type P. pastoris. With the recombinant P. pastoris, the 91% yield of S-HPPE was achieved at 50 mM OPPE maintaining the high optical purity of the product (ee > 99%).     

Optimization for high-level expression of the Pichia guilliermondii recombinant inulinase in Pichia pastoris and characterization of the recombinant inulinase

The inulinase gene cloned from the marine-derived yeast Pichia guilliermondii strain 1 was expressed in Pichia pastoris X-33 and the conditions for overexpression of the inulinase were optimized. After the optimization of the conditions for production of the recombinant inulinase, 286.8 ± 5.4 U/ml and 8873 ± 55.3 U/mg of the recombinanat inulinase in the supernatant of the culture of 2-l fermentor were attained at 120 h of the fermentation and fermentation efficiency was 13.04 μg ± 0.4 of protein/ml/d. The recombinant inulinase was purified and characterized. The molecular weight of the purified recombinant inulinase was 57.6 kDa, which was higher than that of the native iunlinase. The optimal pH and temperature of the purified recombinant inulinase were 6.0 and 60 °C, respectively. Other biochemical characteristics of the purified recombinant inulinase were the same as those of the native inulinase produced by the marine-derived P. guilliermondii strain 1. The purified recombinant inulinase also had high exoinulinase activity. Therefore, the recombinant inulinase may have highly potential applications in food and pharmaceutical industies.     

Comparison of two expression platforms in respect to protein yield and quality: Pichia pastoris versus Pichia angusta

The methylotrophic yeasts Pichia pastoris and Pichia angusta (Hansenula polymorpha) were used for the comparative heterologous production of two model mammalian proteins of pharmaceutical interest, the NK1-fragment (22 kDa) of human hepatocyte growth factor and the extracellular domain (28 kDa) of mouse tissue factor (MTF). Both recombinant proteins were engineered to contain an N-terminal Strep- (WSHPQFEK) and a C-terminal His₆-tag. In addition, both proteins contained the pre-pro-sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mating factor alpha to allow secretion. Following vector construction, transformation and zeocin amplification, the best Pichia producers were identified in a screening procedure using Western blot and a Luminex xMAP™ based high-throughput method. Recombinant NK1-fragment and MTF were purified from culture supernatants of the best producers by affinity chromatography (Ni–nitrilotriacetic acid columns). Using P. pastoris as a host for the synthesis of NK1-fragment a protein yield of 5.7 mg/l was achieved. In comparable expression experiments P. angusta yielded 1.6 mg/l of NK1-fragment. NK1-fragment apparently was not glycosylated in either system. For the production of MTF, P. pastoris was also the superior host yielding 1.2 mg/l glycosylated recombinant protein whereas P. angusta was clearly less efficient (<0.2 mg/l MTF). For both expression systems no correlation between the amount of recombinant protein and the copy number of the chromosomally integrated heterologous genes was found. In P. pastoris strains less degradation of the two model recombinant proteins was observed. Altogether, this paper provides a structured protocol for rapidly identifying productive Pichia strains for the synthesis of full-length recombinant proteins.     

Molecular gene cloning and overexpression of the phytase from Debaryomyces castellii CBS 2923

The ORF encoding the Debaryomyces castellii CBS 2923 phytase was isolated. The deduced 461-amino-acid sequence corresponded to a 51.2 kDa protein and contained the consensus motif (RHGXRXP) which is conserved among phytases. No signal sequence cleavage site was detected. Nine potential N-glycosylation sites have been predicted. The protein shared 21–69% sequence identities with various phytases of yeast or fungal origin. Heterologous expression of the D. castellii CBS 2923 phytase in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris was tested under both the P. pastoris inducible alcohol oxidase (AOX1) promoter and the constitutive glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAP) promoter. Maximum production levels obtained were 476 U ml⁻¹, with the AOX1 expression system and 16.5 U ml⁻¹ with the GAP one. These productions corresponded to a 320-fold and a 10-fold overexpression of the protein, respectively as compared to the homologous production. The biochemical characteristics of the recombinant phytase were identical to those of the native enzyme.     

人白介素-4与大肠杆菌二硫键异构酶DsbC在大肠杆菌中的融合表达及羟胺切割后共复性

目的:通过融合表达、羟胺切割、与二硫键异构酶共复性,获得高表达、高纯度、高生物活性的重组人白细胞介素-4(rhIL-4)。方法:将5端引入了羟胺切割位点的hIL-4基因克隆到大肠杆菌二硫键异构酶DsbC的原核表达载体pET-DsbC中,IPTG诱导表达,对包涵体进行纯化,然后在变性条件下经羟胺切割,利用DsbC的分子伴侣功能与hIL-4进行共复性,最后利用阳离子交换层析纯化获得rhIL-4蛋白。结果:融合蛋白DsbC-hIL-4的表达量占细菌总蛋白的40%以上,以包涵体形式存在;纯化后得到的rhIL-4的相对分子量为15×103,与预期一致,电泳纯度达95%;细胞学实验测定其具有良好的生物学活性。结论:通过融合表达的方法可以提高hIL-4的原核表达量;利用共复性的方式极大地提高了hIL-4的复性率和生物活性。     

Large-scale production and purification of recombinant Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris

The gene coding for agglutinin from Galanthus nivalis (GNA) was expressed in, and secreted by, the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris. Transformants of P. pastoris were selected and a process to produce and purify gram quantities of recombinant GNA was developed. GNA was secreted at approximately 80 mg l^–1 at the 200 l scale and was purified to 95% homogeneity using hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The recombinant protein was similar to the protein synthesised in plant with respect to structure and biological activity.     

High-level expression, purification and characterization of recombinant Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease in Pichia pastoris

The alkaline protease gene from Aspergillus oryzae was cloned, and then it was successfully expressed in the heterologous Pichia pastoris GS115 with native signal peptide or α-factor secretion signal peptide. The yield of the recombinant alkaline protease with native signal peptide was about 1.5-fold higher than that with α-factor secretion signal peptide, and the maximum yield of the recombinant alkaline protease was 513 mg/L, which was higher than other researches. The recombinant alkaline protease was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography. The purified recombinant alkaline protease showed on SDS–PAGE as a single band with an apparent molecular weight of 34 kDa. The recombinant alkaline protease was identical to native alkaline protease from A. oryzae with regard to molecular weight, optimum temperature for activity, optimum pH for activity, stability to pH, and similar sensitivity to various metal ions and protease inhibitors. The native enzyme retained 61.18% of its original activity after being incubated at 50 °C for 10 min, however, the recombinant enzyme retained 56.22% of its original activity with same disposal. The work demonstrates that alkaline protease gene from A. oryzae can be expressed largely in P. pastoris without affecting its enzyme properties and the recombinant alkaline protease could be widely used in various industrial applications.     

Expression and purification of active recombinant human bikunin in Pichia pastoris

Bikunin is a proteoglycan exhibiting broad-spectrum inhibitory activity against serine proteases and could potentially suppress tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Here, we have successfully expressed recombinant human bikunin (rh-bikunin) in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris and established the purification procedure. The cDNA encoding human bikunin was cloned by PCR and inserted into the expression vector pPICZαC. After expressed in shake flask, rh-bikunin was produced in an 80-L fermenter and purified by cation exchange chromatography and reverse phase chromatography. The rh-bikunin was active by trypsin inhibition test. The final expression levels were 55 mg/L and we got totally 1.44 g (5600 inhibitor units/mg) of purified rh-bikunin (purity is 95%) from 40 L of fermentation broth. The rh-bikunin consists of two forms with molecular masses of 24 and 21 kDa, respectively. Both forms were immunoreactive by Western blotting and N-terminals were correctly processed by amino-terminal sequencing. This study provided a new method for expression and purification of active rh-bikunin.     

Recombinant expression of human cathelicidin (hCAP18/LL-37) in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pichia pastoris</Emphasis>

The constitutive expression of human cathelicidin LL-37 antimicrobial peptide was achieved using the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris. An LL-37 cDNA clone was amplified by PCR using human fetal cDNA library as template. The 111 bp fragment encoding mature LL-37 gene was subcloned into pGAPZ-E, an episomal form of the pGAPZB vector incorporating PARS1. It was then transformed into the P. pastoris X-33 strain for intracellular expression. A small peptide with a molecular mass of about 5 kDa was detected by 17% peptide-PAGE analysis. The recombinant LL-37 peptide was purified from the gel and its amino acid sequence was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis. The initiating amino acid, methionine, was still attached to the N-terminal region of recombinant LL-37. LL-37 crude extract from P. pastoris showed an antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus luteus as the test strain. The successful expression of human LL-37 indicates that the system may be applicable to the expression of other human defensins without resorting to fusion protein constructions.     

Characterization of detergent purified recombinant rat liver monoamine oxidase B expressed in Pichia pastoris

The high level expression and purification of rat monoamine oxidase B (rMAOB) in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is reported. Nearly 100 mg of purified rMAOB is obtained from 130 g (wet weight) of cells (0.5 L of culture). The MALDI-TOF mass spectrum of the purified protein shows a single species with a molecular mass of 59.228 ± 0.064 kDa, which agrees with the calculated molecular weight of 59.172 kDa for the rMAOB protein sequence assuming one mole of covalent FAD per mole of the enzyme. Consistent with the MALDI-MS data, purified rMAOB shows a single band near 60 kDa in Coomassie-stained SDS–PAGE gel as well as on Western blot analyses performed using antisera raised against human MAOA and BSA-conjugated FAD. A partial amino acid sequence of the purified protein is confirmed to be that of the wild type rMAOB by in-gel trypsin digestion and MALDI-TOF-MS analyses of the liberated peptide fragments. Steady state kinetic data show that purified rMAOB exhibits a K_m(amine) of 176 ± 15 μM and a k_cat of 497 ± 83 min⁻¹ for benzylamine oxidation, and a K_m(O₂) of 170 ± 10 μM. Kinetic parameters obtained for purified rMAOB are compared with those reported earlier for recombinant human liver MAOB expressed in P. pastoris.