Sang Ki Rhee

Functional Characterization of the Hansenula polymorpha HOC1, OCH1, and OCR1 Genes as Members of the Yeast OCH1 Mannosyltransferase Family Involved in Protein Glycosylation

The α-1,6-mannosyltransferase encoded by Saccharomyces cerevisiae OCH1 (ScOCH1) is responsible for the outer chain initiation of N-linked oligosaccharides. To identify the genes involved in the first step of outer chain biosynthesis in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha, we undertook the functional analysis of three H. polymorpha genes, HpHOC1, HpOCH1, and HpOCR1, that belong to the OCH1 family containing seven members with significant sequence identities to ScOCH1. The deletions of these H. polymorpha genes individually resulted in several phenotypes suggestive of cell wall defects. Whereas the deletion of HpHOC1 (Hphoc1Δ) did not generate any detectable changes in N-glycosylation, the null mutant strains of HpOCH1 (Hpoch1Δ) and HpOCR1 (Hpocr1Δ) displayed a remarkable reduction in hypermannosylation. Although the apparent phenotypes of Hpocr1Δ were most similar to those of S. cerevisiae och1 mutants, the detailed structural analysis of N-glycans revealed that the major defect of Hpocr1Δ is not in the initiation step but rather in the subsequent step of outer chain elongation by α-1,2-mannose addition. Most interestingly, Hpocr1Δ showed a severe defect in the O-linked glycosylation of extracellular chitinase, representing HpOCR1 as a novel member of the OCH1 family implicated in both N- and O-linked glycosylation. In contrast, addition of the first α-1,6-mannose residue onto the core oligosaccharide Man8GlcNAc2 was completely blocked in Hpoch1Δ despite the comparable growth of its wild type under normal growth conditions. The complementation of the S. cerevisiae och1 null mutation by the expression of HpOCH1 and the lack of in vitro α-1,6-mannosyltransferase activity in Hpoch1Δ provided supportive evidence that HpOCH1 is the functional orthologue of ScOCH1. The engineered Hpoch1Δ strain with the targeted expression of Aspergillus saitoi α-1,2-mannosidase in the endoplasmic reticulum was shown to produce human-compatible high mannose-type Man5GlcNAc2 oligosaccharide as a major N-glycan.

Glycoengineering of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha for the production of glycoproteins with trimannosyl core N-glycan by blocking core oligosaccharide assembly.

The initial lipid-linked oligosaccharide Glc(3)Man(9)GlcNAc(2)-dolichyl pyrophosphate (Dol-PP) for N-glycan is synthesized and assembled at the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and subsequently transferred to a nascent polypeptide by the oligosaccharide transferase complex. We have identified an ALG3 homolog (HpALG3) coding for a dolichyl-phosphate-mannose dependent alpha-1,3-mannosyltransferase in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha. The detailed analysis of glycan structure by linkage-specific mannosidase digestion showed that HpALG3 is responsible for the conversion of Man5GlcNAc(2)-Dol-PP to Man(6)GlcNAc(2)-Dol-PP, the first step to attach a mannose to the lipid-linked oligosaccharide in the ER. The N-glycosylation pathway of H. polymorpha has been remodeled by deleting the HpALG3 gene in the Hpoch1 null mutant strain blocked in the yeast-specific outer mannose chain synthesis and by introducing an ER-targeted Aspergillus saitoi alpha-1,2-mannosidase gene. This glycoengineered H. polymorpha strain produced glycoproteins mainly containing trimannosyl core N-glycan (Man(3)GlcNAc(2)), which is the common core backbone of various human-type N-glycans. The results demonstrate the high potential of H. polymorpha to be developed as an efficient expression system for the production of glycoproteins with humanized glycans.

Identification of the cadmium-inducible Hansenula polymorpha SEO1 gene promoter by transcriptome analysis and its application to whole-cell heavy-metal detection systems.

ABSTRACT The genomewide gene expression profiling of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha exposed to cadmium (Cd) allowed us to identify novel genes responsive to Cd treatment. To select genes whose promoters can be useful for construction of a cellular Cd biosensor, we further analyzed a set of H. polymorpha genes that exhibited >6-fold induction upon treatment with 300 μM Cd for 2 h. The putative promoters, about 1,000-bp upstream fragments, of these genes were fused with the yeast-enhanced green fluorescence protein (GFP) gene. The resultant reporter cassettes were introduced into H. polymorpha to evaluate promoter strength and specificity. The promoter derived from the H. polymorpha SEO1 gene (HpSEO1) was shown to drive most strongly the expression of GFP upon Cd treatment among the tested promoters. The Cd-inducible activity was retained in the 500-bp deletion fragment of the HpSEO1 promoter but was abolished in the further truncated 250-bp fragment. The 500-bp HpSEO1 promoter directed specific expression of GFP upon exposure to Cd in a dose-dependent manner, with Cd detection ranging from 1 to 900 μM. Comparative analysis of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SEO1 (ScSEO1) promoter revealed that the ScSEO1 promoter has a broader specificity for heavy metals and is responsive to arsenic and mercury in addition to Cd. Our data demonstrate the potential use of the HpSEO1 promoter as a bioelement in whole-cell biosensors to monitor heavy metal contamination, particularly Cd.

Multiple-yapsin-deficient mutant strains for high-level production of intact recombinant proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The yapsin family of aspartic proteases, located at cell surface, has a common specificity for paired or single basic reside cleavage sites of proproteins. Our previous study reported that the aberrant proteolytic cleavage of secretory recombinant human parathyroid hormone (hPTH) protein was problematic at late stages of fed-batch cultivations, even in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant strain deficient in yapsin 1 (yps1Delta). To overcome this problem, we constructed a set of S. cerevisiae mutant strains lacking several members of the yapsin family through disruption of the YPS genes coding for yapsin 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 proteases in various combinations. The multiple YPS-deletion mutant strains did not show detectable growth defects under normal growth conditions, although some of them were hypersensitive to hygromycin B, acid (pH 3.5) and alkali (pH 8.0) conditions. The quintuple disruptant (yps1Deltayps2Deltayps3Deltayps6Deltayps7Delta) was the most efficient in preventing the proteolytic degradation of hPTH in fed-batch cultivations. The present data strongly indicate the involvement of other yapsin members besides Yps1p in the proteolysis of secretory recombinant proteins, particularly under high-density growth conditions.

Synthesis of methyl β-D-fructoside catalyzed by levansucrase from Rahnella aquatilis

Abstract Methyl β-D-fructoside(MF) was formed from sucrose and methanol by a transfructosylation reaction using recombinant levansucrase from Rahnella aquatilis . The increase in the yield of MF formation was achieved by increasing methanol concentration. The enzyme stability at higher concentrations of methanol was maintained by lowering the reaction temperature. The optimum temperature and sucrose concentration for MF formation was 10°C and 50 gL −1 respectively and the yield of MF was 70%.

Production of D-β-hydroxyisobutyric acid from isobutyric acid by Candida rugosa

Abstract Production of d -β-hydroxyisobutyric acid ( d -HIBA) from isobutyric acid (IBA) was investigated using Candida rugosa IFO 0750. Cell growth and d -HIBA production decreased as the substrate concentration increased. A considerable degradation of d -HIBA was observed when the substrate, IBA, was depleted in the medium. Specific production rate of d -HIBA increased as glucose concentration decreased, while the conversion yield of IBA to d -HIBA showed an opposite trend. With a controlled feeding of IBA and glucose, a high titer of d -HIBA (100 g/l) could be obtained by a fed-batch cultivation of Candida rugosa.

Production of recombinant hirudin in galactokinase-deficientSaccharomyces cerevisiae by fed-batch fermentation with continuous glucose feeding

The artificial gene coding for anticoagulant hirudin was placed under the control of theGAL10 promoter and expressed in the galactokinase-deficient strain (Δgal1) ofSaccharomyces cereivisiae, which uses galactose only as a gratuitous inducer in order to avoid its consumption. For efficient production of recombinant hirudin, a carbon source other than galactose should be provided in the medium to support growth of the Δgal1 strain. Here we demonstrate the successful use of glucose in the fed-batch fermentation of the Δgal1 strain to achieve efficient production of recombinant hirudin, with a yield of up to 400 mg hirudin/L.

Scale-up of recombinant hirudin production fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Scale-up of hirudin production fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae from bench-scale to pilot-scale was carried out based on constant volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (KLa). Fed-batch mode of cultivation using step-wise feeding strategy of galactose was employed for the production of hirudin in a 30-L and a 300-L pilot-scale fermentor. The final hirudin concentrations were achieved 390 mg/L and 286.1 mg/L, and the volumetric productivities were 80.4% and 90.7% with the 30-L and 300-L fermentors, respectively, compared to the productivity of the 5-L bench-scale fermentor.

Independent exponential feeding of glycerol and methanol for fed-batch culture of recombinant Hansenula polymorpha DL-1.

As a novel feeding strategy for aptomizing human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) production with a recombinant Hansenula polymorpha DL-1 using the methanol oxidase (MOX) promoter in H. polymorpha DL-1, independent exponential feeding of two substrates was used. A simple kinetic model considering the cell growth on two substrates was established and used to calculate the respective feeding rates of glycerol and methanol. In the fedbatch culture with methanol-only feeding, the optimal set point of specific growth rate on methanol was found to be 0.10 h−1. When the fed-batch cultures were conducted by the independent feeding of glycerol and methanol, the actual specific growth rate on glycerol and methanol was slightly lower than the set point of specific growth rate. By the uncoupled feeding of glycerol and methanol the volumetric productivity of hEGF increased from 6.4 to 8.0 mg/(L·h), compared with methanol-only feeding.

Fermentation Strategy to Enhance Plasmid Stability during the Cultivation of Escherichia coli for the Production of Recombinant Levansucrase

Abstract To produce levansucrase, a fructosyltransferase enzyme, in a recombinant Escherichia coli harboring the levU gene of Zymomonas mobilis, fermentation strategies were examined in terms of induction methods and plasmid stability. Although the recombinant levansucrase was induced rapidly by IPTG, high instability of the plasmid and formation of inclusion bodies were observed. Segregational instability was aggravated by the excretion of β-lactamase into the culture broth during subculturing, which caused an overgrowth of plasmidfree cells. A combination of methicillin (2, 6-dimethoxyphenyl-penicillin) and ampicillin to provide selective pressure was effective in preventing the growth of plasmid-free cells. The population of plasmid-harboring cells was maintained above 95% of the total cells for more than 100 generations under this condition. In order to replace IPTG, which is toxic and too expensive for use in a large scale, d -lactose was tested and found to be favorable as an alternative inducer.