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The mysterious evolution of Komagataella: why was it reclassified as a new genus?
In the 1960s, a methylotrophic yeast called Pichia pastoris was first discovered. As research deepened, this yeast attracted widespread attention due to its ability to use methanol as a carbon source and energy source. In 1995, P. pastoris was reclassified as the sole representative of the genus Komagataella and renamed Komagataella pastoris. In 2005, researchers discovered that nearly all strains used in industry and laboratories belonged to a different species, K. phaffii. With further research, the genus now includes a total of seven recognized species.
These studies reveal the potential of Komagataella for a wide range of applications in biotechnology and biochemical research.
Natural habitat of Komagataella
In nature, Komagataella is mainly found on trees, such as chestnut trees. These yeasts are heterotrophs and can utilize a variety of carbon sources, such as glucose, glycerol, and methanol, but cannot utilize lactose.
How Komagataella reproduces
Komagataella can reproduce both asexually and sexually, usually by budding and fruiting spores. There are two types of cells: haploid cells and diploid cells. In the asexual life cycle, haploid cells reproduce by mitosis, whereas in the sexual life cycle, diploid cells undergo sporulation and meiosis.
Komagataella as a model organismIn recent years, Komagataella has been recognized as an excellent model organism with several advantages. First, Komagataella can be easily cultured in the lab and has a relatively short life cycle and rapid regeneration time. In addition, some inexpensive culture media designed for it enable it to grow rapidly and at high cell densities. The whole genome sequencing of the strain has been completed, providing scientists with the possibility of in-depth research.
The Komagataella genome and gene annotations can be browsed using the ORCAE system, providing a basis for identifying homologous proteins and evolutionary relationships with other yeast species.
Komagataella as an expression system platform
Komagataella is a common yeast expression system that is often used to produce heterologous proteins, mainly due to its various characteristics. Komagataella can be grown in simple and inexpensive culture media, has an extremely high growth rate, and can be cultured at extremely high cell densities. This gives it a competitive advantage in industrial production.Industrial Applications of Komagataella
In the biotechnology industry, especially the pharmaceutical industry, Komagataella is used to produce more than 500 biotherapeutic products, such as interferon-gamma (IFNγ). Although traditional expression systems have had issues with glycosylation, scientists have successfully improved the functionality of therapeutic proteins by genetically engineering certain strains.
Challenges and future opportunities
Although Komagataella shows great potential for use in biotechnology, it still faces several challenges. For example, the synthesis of some proteins may require chaperones, but Komagataella lacks appropriate chaperones, which limits the production of certain complex proteins. Therefore, improving the technology of introducing mammalian chaperone proteins remains an important direction for future research.
The Komagataella transformation system has great advantages in protein production compared to other expression systems, such as the ability to generate disulfide bonds and glycosylation, which are not possible with E. coli.
In general, Komagataella not only plays an important role in biological research and its industrial applications, but with further research and improvement in gene editing and protein expression, it may open a new chapter in biotechnology in the future. revolution. What role do you think Komagataella will play in future scientific exploration?
