Hello P. pastoris! : The cultivatin and expression of proteins in the yeast Pichia pastoris

Abstract: Producing pharmaceuticals in Escherichia coli inevitably comes with an extensive purification process. This is because many of the native proteins of E. coli are immunogenic to humans, especially the heat and pH resistant endotoxins located in the membrane of E. coli. These native proteins drive up the cost of the purification, which led to a request from the biopharmaceutical company Affibody AB. They want a review on the possibilities of producing their unique Affibody®-molecules in a new, less problematic host cell. Based on a previous bachelor project, Affibody AB chose Pichia pastoris as the candidate. P. pastoris is a methylotrophic yeast that is increasing in use when it comes to producing pharmaceuticals. In this review, multiple ways of utilizing P. pastoris are presented. The process proposals are based on 4 different promoters, pAOX1, pAOX2, pFLD1 and the pGAP. The AOX1- and AOX2-promoters and the FLD1-promoter are inducible promoters that require an inducer-molecule. An inducible promoter presents the best control of the process. The GAP-promoter is a constitutive promoter, meaning that the gene is expressed continuously. A constitutive promoter provides a process which requires fewer steps and ingredients. If the Affibody®-molecules were to be produced with P. pastoris as the host cell, the products would contain less immunogenic substances. Further, P. pastoris is also a very effective option when it comes to producing protein extracellularly. This would ultimately lead to a purification process that requires less resources.