In this study, 15 methanol-inducible and 9 constitutive promoters were used to drive the expression of Thermomyces dupontii lipase (TDL) in Pichia pastoris. Of the 15 methanol-inducible promoters, formaldehyde dehydrogenase promoter (PFLD1) showed the highest efficiency in driving lipase production, followed by alcohol oxidase 1 (PAOX1) and dihydroxyacetone synthase (PDAS1) promoters. The maximum lipase activity of transformants with PFLD1, PAOX1 and PDAS1 promoters in 5-l bioreactor was 27,076, 24,159 and 22,342 U/ml, respectively. For the nine constitutive promoters, glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol-anchored protein promoter (PGCW14) produced the highest amount of lipases in a medium containing glucose or glycerol as the only carbon source, followed by mitochondrial alcohol dehydrogenase isozyme (P0472) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (PGAP) promoters. The maximum lipase yields in 5-l bioreactors under the control of PGCW14, P0472 and PGAP promoters were 17,353, 15,046 and 14,276 U/ml, respectively. The result of this study not only identifies a few highly efficient promoters for the heterologous expression of TDL in P. pastoris, but also casts some insight into the optimization of protein production in heterologous systems.
Keywords: Lipase; Pichia pastoris; Promoter; Thermomyces dupontii.