No abstract

The methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha is a recognised model system for investigation of peroxisomal function, special metabolic pathways like methanol metabolism, of nitrate assimilation or thermostability. Strain RB11, an odc1 derivative of the particular H. polymorpha isolate CBS4732 (synonymous to ATCC34438, NRRL-Y-5445, CCY38-22-2) has been developed as a platform for heterologous gene expression. The scientific and industrial significance of this organism is now being met by the characterisation of its entire genome. The H. polymorpha RB11 genome consists of approximately 9.5 Mb and is organised as six chromosomes ranging in size from 0.9 to 2.2 Mb. Over 90% of the genome was sequenced with concomitant high accuracy and assembled into 48 contigs organised on eight scaffolds (supercontigs). After manual annotation 4767 out of 5933 open reading frames (ORFs) with significant homologies to a non-redundant protein database were predicted. The remaining 1166 ORFs showed no significant similarity to known proteins. The number of ORFs is comparable to that of other sequenced budding yeasts of similar genome size.

The tannase-encoding Arxula adeninivorans gene ATAN1 was isolated from genomic DNA by PCR, using as primers oligonucleotide sequences derived from peptides obtained after tryptic digestion of the purified tannase protein. The gene harbours an ORF of 1764 bp, encoding a 587-amino acid protein, preceded by an N-terminal secretion sequence comprising 28 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence was similar to those of tannases from Aspergillus oryzae (50% identity), A. niger (48%) and putative tannases from A. fumigatus (52%) and A. nidulans (50%). The sequence contains the consensus pentapeptide motif (-Gly-X-Ser-X-Gly-) which forms part of the catalytic centre of serine hydrolases. Expression of ATAN1 is regulated by the carbon source. Supplementation with tannic acid or gallic acid leads to induction of ATAN1, and accumulation of the native tannase enzyme in the medium. The enzymes recovered from both wild-type and recombinant strains were essentially indistinguishable. A molecular mass of ∼320 kDa was determined, indicating that the native, glycosylated tannase consists of four identical subunits. The enzyme has a temperature optimum at 35-40• C and a pH optimum at ∼6.0. The enzyme is able to remove gallic acid from both condensed and hydrolysable tannins. The wildtype strain LS3 secreted amounts of tannase equivalent to 100 U/l under inducing conditions, while the transformant strain, which overexpresses the ATAN1 gene from the strong, constitutively active A. adeninivorans TEF1 promoter, produced levels of up to 400 U/l when grown in glucose medium in shake flasks.

BackgroundChimeric virus-like particles (VLP) allow the display of foreign antigens on their surface and have proved valuable in the development of safe subunit vaccines or drug delivery. However, finding an inexpensive production system and a VLP scaffold that allows stable incorporation of diverse, large foreign antigens are major challenges in this field.ResultsIn this study, a versatile and cost-effective platform for chimeric VLP development was established. The membrane integral small surface protein (dS) of the duck hepatitis B virus was chosen as VLP scaffold and the industrially applied and safe yeast Hansenula polymorpha (syn. Pichia angusta, Ogataea polymorpha) as the heterologous expression host. Eight different, large molecular weight antigens of up to 412 amino acids derived from four animal-infecting viruses were genetically fused to the dS and recombinant production strains were isolated. In all cases, the fusion protein was well expressed and upon co-production with dS, chimeric VLP containing both proteins could be generated. Purification was accomplished by a downstream process adapted from the production of a recombinant hepatitis B VLP vaccine. Chimeric VLP were up to 95% pure on protein level and contained up to 33% fusion protein. Immunological data supported surface exposure of the foreign antigens on the native VLP. Approximately 40 mg of chimeric VLP per 100 g dry cell weight could be isolated. This is highly comparable to values reported for the optimized production of human hepatitis B VLP. Purified chimeric VLP were shown to be essentially stable for 6 months at 4 °C.ConclusionsThe dS-based VLP scaffold tolerates the incorporation of a variety of large molecular weight foreign protein sequences. It is applicable for the display of highly immunogenic antigens originating from a variety of pathogens. The yeast-based production system allows cost-effective production that is not limited to small-scale fundamental research. Thus, the dS-based VLP platform is highly efficient for antigen presentation and should be considered in the development of future vaccines.

We have introduced the glucoamylase gene (GAM1) from Schwanniomyces occidentalis into the genome of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha to study the potential of this organism as a host for high-level expression of a heterologous gene encoding a secretory protein. Transformants of H. polymorpha containing GAM1 under control of the formate dehydrogenase (FMD) promoter are stable and efficiently secrete an active glucoamylase that is faithfully processed and modified. Yields of up to 1.4g/l of active enzyme were obtained at cell densities of 100-130 grams dry weight per liter.

Combining ease of genetic manipulation and fermentation with the ability to secrete and to glycosylate proteins in the basic eukaryotic manner, Arxula adeninivorans provides an attractive expression platform. Based on a redesign of the basic vector, a new Arxula vector system, Xplor 2, for heterologous gene expression was established, which allows (1) the construction of expression plasmids for supertransformation of A. adeninivorans strains secreting target proteins of biotechnological interest and (2) the integration of small vector cassettes consisting of yeast DNA sequences only. For this purpose, a set of modules including the ATRP1m selection-marker module, expression modules for constitutive expression of the genes phyK (Klebsiella-derived phytase) and IFNalpha2a (human interferon alpha), the HARS (Hansenula polymorpha autonomous replication sequence) for autonomous replication and the chaperone module AHSB4 promoter -HpCNE1 gene (calnexin) -PHO5 terminator to improve secretion efficiency were constructed and integrated in various combinations in the basic vector Xplor 2. After removal of the complete Escherichia coli-based plasmid parts (resistance marker, ColE1 ori and f1(-) origin), the remaining yeast-based linear vector fragment with or without rDNA targeting sequences were transformed as yeast rDNA integrative expression cassettes and yeast integrative expression cassettes (YICs), respectively, and the resulting strains were tested for their capacity to secrete PhyK or IFNalpha2a. Maximal expression levels were consistently obtained using YICs for transformation irrespective of whether or not they carry HARS and/or calnexin modules. It is recommended that at least 50 such transformants be analyzed to ensure selection of the best transformants.

ISRCTN55870770.

A DNA sequence coding for a subtype of the hirudin variant HV1 was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha from a strongly inducible promoter element derived from a gene of the methanol metabolism pathway. For secretion, the coding sequence was fused to the KEX2 recognition site of three different prepro segments engineered from the MF alpha 1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the glucoamylase (GAM1) gene of Schwanniomyces occidentalis and the gene for a crustacean hyperglycemic hormone from the shore crab Carcinus maenas. In all three cases, correct processing of the precursor molecule and efficient secretion of the mature protein were observed. In fermentations on a 10-1 scale of a transformant strain harbouring a MF alpha 1/hirudin-gene fusion yields in the range of grams per litre could be obtained. The majority of the secreted product was identified as the full-length 65-amino-acid hirudin. Only small amounts of a truncated 63-amino- acid product, frequently observed in S. cerevisiae-based expression systems, could be detected.