Construction of a flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain secreting high levels of Aspergillus niger β-galactosidase

A flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain secreting Aspergillus niger beta-galactosidase activity was constructed by transforming S. cerevisiae NCYC869-A3 strain with plasmid pVK1.1 harboring the A. niger beta-galactosidase gene, lacA, under the control of the ADH1 promoter and terminator. Compared to other recombinant S. cerevisiae strains, this recombinant yeast has higher levels of extracellular beta-galactosidase activity. In shake-flask cultures, the beta-galactosidase activity detected in the supernatant was 20 times higher than that obtained with previously constructed strains (Domingues et al. 2000a). In bioreactor culture, with cheese-whey permeate as substrate, a yield of 878.0 nkat/gsubstrate was obtained. The recombinant strain is an attractive alternative to other fungal beta-galactosidase production systems as the enzyme is produced in a rather pure form. Moreover, the use of flocculating yeast cells allows for enzyme production with high productivity in continuous fermentation systems with facilitated downstream processing.     

产L-苹果酸重组大肠杆菌的构建

基于产琥珀酸重组大肠杆菌E.coli B0013-1050的琥珀酸合成途径,利用Red同源重组技术结合Xer/dif重组系统敲除富马酸酶基因fumB、fumC,苹果酸酶基因maeB,构建L-苹果酸合成途径,最终得到重组大肠杆菌E.coli2030,该菌株在15 L发酵罐中,产L-苹果酸12.5 g/L,葡萄糖-苹果酸转化率为52.1%,同时对发酵产物中主要杂酸丙酮酸和琥珀酸的生产原因进行了初步的探讨与分析。为进一步提高L-苹果酸的转化率,整合表达来源于黄曲霉的苹果酸脱氢酶基因,构建重组菌E.coli 2040,在15 L发酵罐中产L-苹果酸14 g/L,葡萄糖-苹果酸转化率提高到60.3%。     

Population dynamics of a continuous fermentation of recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae using flow cytometry

The plasmid instability of genetically modified microorganisms during prolonged bioreactor operations is one of the major problems to be overcome in the production of recombinant proteins. The use of flow cytometry to monitor a fermentation process with recombinant cells in a CSTR is reported here. This technique has been applied to determine the fraction of plasmid-bearing cells (P+) of a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain harboring the EXG1 gene in a continuous stirred tank bioreactor with a working volume of 2 L. The different levels in the expression of the EXG1 gene, which encodes the enzyme exo-beta-glucanase, were used to determine the P+ fraction. Other parameters such as viability, cellular protein, cell size and structure were also monitored using flow cytometry. This technique has two main advantages over the conventional method of determining the P+ fraction (plating in selective and non-selective solid media): (a) it takes a very short period of time to obtain a measurement that provides multiple parametric information; and (b) it is more representative of the bioreactor cell population since it can analyze thousands of cells in the same sample. A continuous operation (432 h) with the recombinant strain in a CSTR was carried out to test the application of this technique. Measurements of cellular exo-beta-glucanase activity and cellular protein content closely correlates to the measured fraction of plasmid-containing cells in the population. Moreover, the standard deviation of the fraction of P+ cells determined using this technique was very low (about 2%). Recombinant protein production also increased the size of the yeast cells, whereas the recombinant cells also had a more complex internal structure than the non-recombinant host strain.     

一步法产1,3-丙二醇酿酒酵母基因工程菌的构建

1,3-丙二醇(1,3-PD)是一种重要的化工原料,发酵法生产1,3-PD是一条新颖且具有潜在竞争力的生产途径。本研究在前期工作的基础上,将分别来源于大肠杆菌和肺炎克雷伯氏菌的基因片段yqhD和dhaB串联表达,构建重组表达载体pYX212-zeocin-pGAP-yqhD-pGAP-dhaB;并得到重组酿酒酵母(Saccharomyces cerevisiae)W303-1A/pYX212-zeocin-pGAP-yqhD-pGAP-dhaB。该重组菌和对照S.cerevisiae分别以葡萄糖为底物摇瓶发酵72h后,重组酿酒酵母发酵液中1,3-PD含量约为1.5g/L;而对照菌株不产1,3-PD。以上结果表明本研究在国内首次成功构建了直接以葡萄糖为底物发酵生产1,3-PD的酿酒酵母基因工程菌。为进一步将dhaB、yqhD基因导入其他以葡萄糖为底物高产甘油的酵母宿主中表达,获得以葡萄糖为底物一步法发酵高产1,3-丙二醇工程菌打下了坚实的基础。     

Production of native protein by using Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 DnaB mini-intein in Escherichia coli

To directly express native recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli, a new expression vector pSB was constructed using Ssp DnaB mini-intein. Using the vector, native proteins could be produced with the help of C-terminal self-cleavage of the intein. In this study, we cloned hIFNalpha-4 gene into pSB and used E. coli strain Origami B (DE3) as the host. Expression experiments were carried out both in Shake flasks and a 5 L bioreactor. The results indicated hIFNalpha-4 could be expressed in the form of soluble protein with correct folding in E. coli. The maximal hIFNalpha-4 content was 21.7% of total protein, and the antiviral activity of the protein was 1.2x10(8 )IU mg(-1). Overall, good effects were achieved with this system. This intein-mediated protein expression system opens up a useful method for production of native recombinant protein in E. coli.     

大肠杆菌甘油激酶基因(glpK)和甘油脱氢酶基因(gldA)的敲除及其对甘油产量的影响

利用Red重组系统构建了大肠杆菌JM109甘油激酶基因(glpK)和甘油脱氢酶基因(gldA)缺失的双突变菌株JM109B,然后将表达酿酒酵母3-磷酸甘油脱氢酶基因(GPD1)和3-磷酸甘油酯酶基因(HOR2)的质粒pSE-gpd1-hor2转化到JM109B突变菌株中,在含1%葡萄糖的摇瓶发酵培养基中37℃发酵24 h,甘油的最高产量为5.61 g/L,是原始菌株JM109/pSE-gpd1-hor2甘油产量的1.59倍;在30 L发酵罐中发酵28 h,甘油的最高产量为103.12 g/L,是原始菌株JM109/pSE-gpd1-hor2甘油产量的1.59倍,是原始菌株BL21/pSE-gpd1-hor2甘油产量的1.41倍,葡萄糖转化率为50.39%。     

Influence of growth temperature on the production of antibody Fab fragments in different microbes: a host comparative analysis

Microorganisms encounter diverse stress conditions in their native habitats but also during fermentation processes, which have an impact on industrial process performance. These environmental stresses and the physiological reactions they trigger, including changes in the protein folding/secretion machinery, are highly interrelated. Thus, the investigation of environmental factors, which influence protein expression and secretion is still of great importance. Among all the possible stresses, temperature appears particularly important for bioreactor cultivation of recombinant hosts, as reductions of growth temperature have been reported to increase recombinant protein production in various host organisms. Therefore, the impact of temperature on the secretion of proteins with therapeutic interest, exemplified by a model antibody Fab fragment, was analyzed in five different microbial protein production hosts growing under steady-state conditions in carbon-limited chemostat cultivations. Secretory expression of the heterodimeric antibody Fab fragment was successful in all five microbial host systems, namely Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris, Trichoderma reesei, Escherichia coli and Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis. In this comparative analysis we show that a reduction of cultivation temperature during growth at constant growth rate had a positive effect on Fab 3H6 production in three of four analyzed microorganisms, indicating common physiological responses, which favor recombinant protein production in prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic microbes.     

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli BL21 for biosynthesis of heparosan, a bioengineered heparin precursor

As a precursor of bioengineered heparin, heparosan is currently produced from Escherichia coli K5, which is pathogenic bacteria potentially causing urinary tract infection. Thus, it would be advantageous to develop an alternative source of heparosan from a non-pathogeneic strain. In this work we reported the biosynthesis of heparosan via the metabolic engineering of non-pathogenic E. coli BL21 as a production host. Four genes, KfiA, KfiB, KfiC and KfiD, encoding enzymes for the biosynthesis of heparosan in E. coli K5, were cloned into inducible plasmids pETDuet-1 and pRSFDuet-1 and further transformed into E. coli BL21, yielding six recombinant strains as follows: sA, sC, sAC, sABC, sACD and sABCD. The single expression of KfiA (sA) or KfiC (sC) in E. coli BL21 did not produce heparosan, while the co-expression of KfiA and KfiC (sAC) could produce 63mg/L heparosan in shake flask. The strain sABC and sACD could produce 100 and 120mg/L heparosan, respectively, indicating that the expression of KfiB or KfiD was beneficial for heparosan production. The strain sABCD could produce 334mg/L heparosan in shake flask and 652mg/L heparosan in 3-L batch bioreactor. The heparosan yield was further increased to 1.88g/L in a dissolved oxygen-stat fed-batch culture in 3-L bioreactor. As revealed by the nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, the chemical structure of heparosan from recombinant E. coli BL21 and E. coli K5 was identical. The weight average molecular weight of heparosan from E. coli K5, sAC, sABC, sACD, and sABCD was 51.67, 39.63, 91.47, 64.51, and 118.30kDa, respectively. This work provides a viable process for the production of heparosan as a precursor of bioengineered heparin from a safer bacteria strain.     

Relationships between hydrodynamics and rheology of flocculating yeast suspensions in a high-cell-density airlift bioreactor

In this article a hydrodynamic and rheological analysis of a continuous airlift bioreactor with high-cell-density system is presented. A highly flocculating recombinant strain of Sacharomyces cerevisiae containing genes for lactose transport (lactose permease) and hydrolysis (beta-galactosidase) was exploited to ferment lactose from cheese whey to ethanol. The magnetic particle-tracer method was used to assess the effect of operational conditions (air-flow rate, biomass concentration) on hydrodynamic behavior of an airlift bioreactor during the fermentation process. Measurements of liquid circulation velocity showed the existence of a critical value of biomass concentration at which a dramatic deceleration of net liquid flow appeared with increasing biomass quantity. Rheological analysis revealed exponential increase of viscosity of the yeast floc suspension at the same biomass concentration of about 73 g/dm3 corresponding to 42.8% v/v of solid fraction. These facts have a particular importance for the successful processing of a high-cell-density airlift bioreactor as only a circulated flow regime will be favorable to keep the solid particles in suspension state and evenly distributed throughout the bioreactor.     

Kinetics and modeling of GM-CSF production by recombinant yeast in a three-phase fluidized bed bioreactor

Continuous production of a recombinant murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain XV2181 (a/a, Trp 1) containing plasmid palphaADH2 and immobilized on porous glass beads in a fluidized bed bioreactor was studied. Kinetic models for plasmid stability, cell growth, and protein production in the three-phase fluidized bed bioreactor were developed and used to study the effects of solid loading or cell immobilization on plasmid stability and recombinant protein production. With increasing cell immobilization or solid loading in the bioreactor, plasmid stability and protein production improved significantly. The improvements could be attributed to the decreased theta value, which is the plasmid loss probability during cell division and is an indication of segregational instability of the recombinant cell, and the increased alpha value, which is the ratio of the specific growth rate of a plasmid-carrying cell to that of a plasmid-free cell and is indicative of competitive stability of the recombinant cell culture. theta decreased from 0.552 to 0.042 and alpha increased from 0.351 to 0.991 when solid loading in the bioreactor was increased from 5% (v/v) to 33%. The model simulation also showed that the specific growth rate of cells in the bioreactor was lower at higher solid loading. This indicated that there was significant mass transfer limitation, particularly for oxygen transfer, when the total cell density in the bioreactor was high at high solid loading. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 53: 470-477, 1997.     

Effective production of a thermostable alpha-glucosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus in Escherichia coli exploiting a microfiltration bioreactor

A microfiltration (MF) membrane bioreactor was developed for an efficient production of a recombinant thermostable alpha-glucosidase (rSsGA) from Sulfolobus solfataricus MT-4. The aim of the membrane bioreactor was to improve the control of the concentration of key components in the growth of genetic engineered microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli. The influence of medium composition was studied in relation to cell growth and alpha-glucosidase production. The addition of components such as yeast extract and tryptone resulted in a higher enzyme production. High cell density cultivation of E. coli BL21(DE3) on semidefined medium, exploiting a microfiltration bioreactor, was studied in order to optimize rSsGA production. In addition to medium composition, the inducer employed (either isopropyl beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside or lactose), the induction duration, and the cultivation mode influenced both the final biomass and the enzyme yield. The MF bioreactor allowed a cell concentration of 50 g/L dry weight and a corresponding alpha-glucosidase production of 11,500 U/L. The improvement obtained in the enzyme production combining genetic engineering and the microfiltration strategy was estimated to be 2,000-fold the wild-type strain.     

Bacterial production of D-erythroascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid through functional expression of Saccharomyces cerevisiae D-arabinono-1,4-lactone oxidase in Escherichia coli.

D-Arabinono-1,4-lactone oxidase, which catalyzes the terminal step in the biosynthesis of D-erythroascorbic acid in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was functionally expressed in Escherichia coli inherently lacking the enzyme. The recombinant E. coli strain expressing the enzyme could overproduce D-erythroascorbic acid and L-ascorbic acid when supplied with D-arabinono-1,4-lactone and L-galactono-1,4-lactone, respectively.     

A mathematical description of recombinant yeast

A model was formulated to examine specific experimental data of growth and heterologous product formation with recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae while incorporating available literature. The model simulated dry cell weight, glucose, ethanol, dissolved oxygen, human Epidermal Growth Factor (hEGF) production, fraction of recombinant cells, oxygen uptake rate, and carbon dioxide production rate for batch, fed batch, and hollow fiber bioreactor configurations. Nineteen differential equations, 24 analytical equations, and 48 parameters were required. Due to the lack of detailed studies needed for the ADH-II and the TCA enzyme pool, 8 of the 48 parameters were adjustable. Simulation results are presented for verification of the model which successfully described the observed phenomena for the fermentations of S. cerevisiae strain AB103. 1 pYalphaEF-25. Also presented is a statistical analysis of the model's fit and model parameter sensitivity.     

Twenty-four-well plate miniature bioreactor high-throughput system: assessment for microbial cultivations

High-throughput (HT) miniature bioreactor (MBR) systems are becoming increasingly important to rapidly perform clonal selection, strain improvement screening, and culture media and process optimization. This study documents the initial assessment of a 24-well plate MBR system, Micro (micro)-24, for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Escherichia coli, and Pichia pastoris cultivations. MBR batch cultivations for S. cerevisiae demonstrated comparable growth to a 20-L stirred tank bioreactor fermentation by off-line metabolite and biomass analyses. High inter-well reproducibility was observed for process parameters such as on-line temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen. E. coli and P. pastoris strains were also tested in this MBR system under conditions of rapidly increasing oxygen uptake rates (OUR) and at high cell densities, thus requiring the utilization of gas blending for dissolved oxygen and pH control. The E. coli batch fermentations challenged the dissolved oxygen and pH control loop as demonstrated by process excursions below the control set-point during the exponential growth phase on dextrose. For P. pastoris fermentations, the micro-24 was capable of controlling dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature under batch and fed-batch conditions with subsequent substrate shot feeds and supported biomass levels of 278 g/L wet cell weight (wcw). The average oxygen mass transfer coefficient per non-sparged well were measured at 32.6 +/- 2.4, 46.5 +/- 4.6, 51.6 +/- 3.7, and 56.1 +/- 1.6 h(-1) at the operating conditions of 500, 600, 700, and 800 rpm shaking speed, respectively. The mixing times measured for the agitation settings 500 and 800 rpm were below 5 and 1 s, respectively.     

Protein production using recombinant yeast in an immobilized-cell-film airlift bioreactor

A recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae C468/pGAC9 (ATCC 20690), which expresses Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase gene under the control of the yeast enolase I (ENO1) promoter and secretes glucoamylase into the extracellular medium, was used as a model system to investigate the effect of cell immobilization on bioreactor culture performance. Free suspension cultures in stirred-tank and airlift bioreactors confirmed inherent genetic instability of the recombinant yeast. An immobilized-cell-film airlift bioreactor was developed by employing cotton cloth sheets to immobilize the yeast cells by attachment. Enhanced enzyme productivity and production stability in the immobilized-cell system were observed. Experimental data indicated that the immobilized cells maintained a higher proportion of plasmid-bearing cells for longer periods under continuous operation. The higher plasmid maintenance with immobilized cells is possibly due to reduced specific growth rate and increased plasmid copy number. Double-selection pressure was used to select and maintain the recombinant yeast. The selected strain showed better production performance than the original strain. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 55: 241-251, 1997.     

High cell density cultivation of recombinant yeasts and bacteria under non-pressurized and pressurized conditions in stirred tank bioreactors

This study demonstrates the applicability of pressurized stirred tank bioreactors for oxygen transfer enhancement in aerobic cultivation processes. The specific power input and the reactor pressure was employed as process variable. As model organism Escherichia coli, Arxula adeninivorans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Corynebacterium glutamicum were cultivated to high cell densities. By applying specific power inputs of approx. 48kWm(-3) the oxygen transfer rate of a E. coli culture in the non-pressurized stirred tank bioreactor was lifted up to values of 0.51moll(-1)h(-1). When a reactor pressure up to 10bar was applied, the oxygen transfer rate of a pressurized stirred tank bioreactor was lifted up to values of 0.89moll(-1)h(-1). The non-pressurized stirred tank bioreactor was able to support non-oxygen limited growth of cell densities of more than 40gl(-1) cell dry weight (CDW) of E. coli, whereas the pressurized stirred tank bioreactor was able to support non-oxygen limited growth of cell densities up to 225gl(-1) CDW of A. adeninivorans, 89gl(-1) CDW of S. cerevisiae, 226gl(-1) CDW of C. glutamicum and 110gl(-1) CDW of E. coli. Compared to literature data, some of these cell densities are the highest values ever achieved in high cell density cultivation of microorganisms in stirred tank bioreactors. By comparing the specific power inputs as well as the k(L)a values of both systems, it is demonstrated that only the pressure is a scaleable tool for oxygen transfer enhancement in industrial stirred tank bioreactors. Furthermore, it was shown that increased carbon dioxide partial pressures did not remarkably inhibit the growth of the investigated model organisms.     

Functional expression of Escherichia coli enzymes synthesizing GDP-L-fucose from inherent GDP-D-mannose in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Fucosylation of glycans on glycoproteins and -lipids requires the enzymatic activity of relevant fucosyltransferases and GDP-L-fucose as the donor. Due to the biological importance of fucosylated glycans, a readily accessible source of GDP-L-fucose would be required. Here we describe the construction of a stable recombinant S.cerevisiae strain expressing the E.coli genes gmd and wcaG encoding the two enzymes, GDP-mannose-4,6-dehydratase (GMD) and GDP-4-keto-6-deoxy-D-mannose-3,5-epimerase/4-reductase (GMER(FX)) respectively, needed to convert GDP-mannose to GDP-fucose via the de novo pathway. Taking advantage of the rich inherent cytosolic GDP-mannose pool in S.cerevisiae cells we could easily produce 0.2 mg/l of GDP-L-fucose with this recombinant yeast strain without addition of any external GDP-mannose. The GDP-L-fucose product could be used as the fucose donor for alpha1,3fucosyltransferase to synthesize sialyl Lewis x (sLex), a glycan crucial for the selectin-dependent leukocyte traffic.     

Continuous ethanol production by flocculating yeast in the fluidized bed bioreactor

Abstract: Continuous fermentation by a highly flocculant strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was carried out in a tower fluidized-bed bioreactor. The synthetic and molasses media with a total sugar concentration of 17% (w/v) were used for fermentation. Different dilution rates were tested. Stable cell densities of 50 kg m^-3(dry weight) were maintained for all dilution rates. The ethanol productivity was increasing linearly with dilution rates up to 15—20 kg m^-3 h^-1. Aeration of the culture stabilized flocculating activity and viability of yeast and also permitted long-term operation of the bioreactor.     

High expression of glycogen-debranching enzyme in Escherichia coli and its competent purification method

Glycogen-debranching enzyme (GDE) gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was cloned and expressed into Escherichia coli. A 99.3% homology was found between the nucleotide sequences of GDE gene harbored in the recombinant E. coli plasmid (pTrc99A) and the open reading frame (902039-906646 position) of the 4608-bp fragment of S. cerevisiae chromosome XVI. We investigated the best conditions for GDE expression. When the cultivation temperature of recombinant E. coli strains was lowered to 25 degrees C and the isopropyl-beta-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) concentration used for induction was decreased to as low as 0.02 mM, a total of about 33 mg of recombinant GDE can be isolated from a liter culture as estimated by amylo-1,6-glucosidase activity. Consecutively, we developed a new method for purifying GDE. The method requires only a single-step purification via beta-cyclodextrin-immobilized Sepharose 6B (beta-CD Sepharose 6B) affinity chromatography and renders a 90% recovery of the enzyme. Moreover, the purified recombinant GDE is a homogeneous protein and possesses the same characteristics as those of S. cerevisiae. With the highly expressed GDE in recombinant E. coli and a rapid and effective purification method, we successfully resolved the hurdle always faced for obtaining an ample amount of purified GDE. The availability of GDE, hence, may allow advancement on GDE studies and provide new prospects for GDE on biotechnological application.     

Increasing glutathione formation by functional expression of the γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A recombinant plasmid, pGMF, containing a gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase gene (GSH-I) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was constructed with a copper-resistance gene as the selection marker and was introduced into S. cerevisiae YSF-31. The glutathione content of the recombinant strain was 1.5-fold (13.1 mg g dry cells(-1)) of that in the host strain.