Expression of methyl parathion hydrolase in Pichia pastoris

Curr Microbiol. 2009 Dec;59(6):573-8. doi: 10.1007/s00284-009-9484-x. Epub 2009 Oct 3.

Abstract

In the Pichia pastoris expression system, increasing the copy number of the expression cassette often has the effect of increasing the amount of protein expressed. To improve the expression level of methyl parathion hydrolase (MPH), we constructed two integration vectors with four and eight direct repeats of the expression cassette using an in vitro multimerization approach. After two successive integrations, at least 12 copies of the MPH expression cassette were integrated into the P. pastoris chromosome. Under shake-flask conditions, over 55 mg active MPH/l was secreted into the medium by the multicopy clones. The extracellular enzyme activity was about 10-fold higher for the multicopy clones than for clones containing a single copy of the gene. Further investigations revealed that the multicopy MPH expression cassette could remain stably integrated and functional over five generations. Note that the expression vector pRF constructed in our study can be not only used to construct multiple copies of the expression cassette in vitro, but also integrated into the P. pastoris genome without introducing any antibiotic resistance gene, which is desirable for production of biotherapeutic proteins.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cloning, Molecular / methods*
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Methyl Parathion* / metabolism
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / genetics*
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Pichia / genetics*
  • Pichia / growth & development
  • Plesiomonas / enzymology
  • Plesiomonas / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Transformation, Genetic

Substances

  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Methyl Parathion
  • Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases