Search

Chimeric virus-like particles (VLP) are known as promising tools in the development of safe and effective subunit vaccines. Recently, a technology platform to produce VLP based on the small surface protein (dS) of the duck hepatitis B virus was established. In this study, chimeric VLP were investigated displaying the 195 N-terminal amino acids derived from the glycoprotein E2 of the bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) on their surface. Isolation of the VLP from methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha was allowed upon co-expression of wild-type dS and a fusion protein composed of the BVDV-derived antigen N-terminally fused to the dS. It was shown the VLP could be purified by a process adapted from the production of a recombinant hepatitis B VLP vaccine. However, the process essentially depended on costly ultracentrifugation which is critical for low cost production. In novel process variants, this step was avoided after modification of the initial batch capture step, the introduction of a precipitation step and adjusting the ion exchange chromatography. The product yield could be improved by almost factor 8 to 93 ± 12 mg VLP protein per 100 g dry cell weight while keeping similar product purity and antigenicity. This allows scalable and cost efficient VLP production., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is one of the major threats to human health globally. Despite huge efforts in malaria control and eradication, highly effective vaccines are urgently needed, including vaccines that can block malaria transmission. Chimeric virus-like particles (VLP) have emerged as a promising strategy to develop new malaria vaccine candidates., Methods: We developed yeast cell lines and processes for the expression of malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidates Pfs25 and Pfs230 as VLP and VLP were analyzed for purity, size, protein incorporation rate and expression of malaria antigens., Results: In this study, a novel platform for the display of Plasmodium falciparum antigens on chimeric VLP is presented. Leading transmission-blocking vaccine candidates Pfs25 and Pfs230 were genetically fused to the small surface protein (dS) of the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV). The resulting fusion proteins were co-expressed in recombinant Hansenula polymorpha (syn. Pichia angusta, Ogataea polymorpha) strains along with the wild-type dS as the VLP scaffold protein. Through this strategy, chimeric VLP containing Pfs25 or the Pfs230-derived fragments Pfs230c or Pfs230D1M were purified. Up to 100 mg chimeric VLP were isolated from 100 g dry cell weight with a maximum protein purity of 90% on the protein level. Expression of the Pfs230D1M construct was more efficient than Pfs230c and enabled VLP with higher purity. VLP showed reactivity with transmission-blocking antibodies and supported the surface display of the malaria antigens on the native VLP., Conclusion: The incorporation of leading Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking antigens into the dS-based VLP scaffold is a promising novel strategy for their display on nano-scaled particles. Competitive processes for efficient production and purification were established in this study., Competing Interests: The authors VJ, MP, MS, DW and MW are associated with ARTES Biotechnology GmbH which owns the license for the VLP technology: Viral vectors expressing fusion of viral large envelope protein and protein of interest (No. WO2004092387A1). Recombinant proteins and virus-like particles comprising L and S polypeptides of avian hepadnaviridae and methods, nucleic acid constructs, vectors and host cells for producing same (No. WO2008025067A1). Author JM is affiliated with Evonik Technology & Infrastructure GmbH. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Background: Chimeric 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., Results: In 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., Conclusions: The 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.

The literature as well as databases are ambiguous about the exact start of human interleukin-6 (IL-6)--three possibilities for the initiation of the mature protein are described. These three variants of IL-6, different in the exact initiation of the mature protein (A28, P29, or V30), were expressed in Hansenula polymorpha using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MFα prepro sequence instead of the homologous pre sequence. All three IL-6 variants were secreted but the processing by the Kex2 protease showed significant differences. V30-IL-6 showed correctly processed material but also a molecule species of higher molecular weight indicating incomplete processing of the MFα pro peptide. P29-IL-6 did not yield any correctly processed IL-6, instead only the unprocessed pro form was found in the culture supernatant. Only A28-IL-6 led to 100% correctly processed material. N-terminal sequencing of this material revealed a start at V30--obviously the first two amino acids (Ala28-Pro29) have been removed by a so far unknown protease. Thus expression of both A28-IL-6 and V30-IL-6 as MFα prepro fusion proteins resulted in the very same mature V30-IL-6, however, the ratio of correctly processed molecules was significantly higher in the case of A28-IL-6. The expression of an MFα prepro-interferon α-2a (IFNα-2a) fusion protein in H. polymorpha leads to about 50% correctly processed molecules and 50% misprocessed forms which contain part of the pro peptide at the N-termini. The insertion of A28 and P29 of IL-6 between the pro peptide and the start of the mature IFNα-2a led to correct processing and elimination of all high molecular weight isoforms observed in earlier experiments., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine belong to the family of compatible solutes which are known to mainly contribute to the adaptation of the cell to osmotic stress by mediation of a constant turgor. In addition the cell's essential functions are maintained under stress conditions like high salinity, heat or aridity stress. Hansenula polymorpha was engineered to catalyze the transformation of monomeric substrates to 5-hydroxyectoine. For this purpose four genes encoding the enzymes of the 5-hydroxyectoine biosynthesis pathway of Halomonas elongata, EctA, EctB, EctC, and EctD, were inserted into the genome of H. polymorpha. Subsequently the syntheses of ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine were analyzed and optimized. We showed that H. polymorpha is a suitable system for recombinant 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis in gram per liter scale (2.8 g L⁻¹ culture supernatant, 365 μmol/g dcw) in which almost 100% conversion of ectoine to 5-hydroxyectoine without necessity of high salinity were achieved., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The iron storage protein ferritin is a member of the non-heme iron protein family. It can store and release iron, therefore it prevents the cell from damage caused by iron-dioxygen reactions as well as it provides iron for biological processing. To study whether the human ferritin heavy chain (FTH1) can be expressed in Hansenula polymorpha, we integrated an expression cassette for FTH1 and analyzed the protein expression. We found very efficient expression of FTH1 and obtained yields up to 1.9 g/L under non-optimized conditions. Based on this result we designed a FTH1-PTH fusion protein to successfully express the parathyroid hormone fragment 1-34 (PTH) for the first time intracellular in H. polymorpha., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Pichia anomala gene PPHY, which codes for a cell-bound phytase, was isolated from genomic DNA by PCR, using oligonucleotide sequences derived from the N-terminal region of the purified phytase protein (Pphyp) and a degenerate primer derived from conserved sequences of yeast and fungal phytases as primers. The gene harbours an ORF of 1389bp, encoding a 462-amino-acid protein. The deduced amino acid sequence has similarity, to a varied extent, with those of phosphatases from Pichia stipitis (62%), Candida dubliniensis (51%), Candida albicans (51%), Arxula adeninivorans (35%) and phytases from Debaryomyces castellii (50%) and Pichia fabianii (39%). The sequence contains the phytase consensus heptapeptide motif (-Arg-His-Gly-X-Arg-X-Pro-) as well as two phosphohistidine signature motifs found in histidine acid phosphatases. After transformation of PPHY into the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae, A. adeninivorans and Hansenula polymorpha, the last species was selected as the most suitable for synthesis of recombinant Pphyp. The cell-bound enzyme activities produced by wild-type P. anomala and transgenic H. polymorpha strains bearing the PPHY gene placed under the control of the inducible H. polymorpha-derived FMD promoter were characterized. In both cases, a molecular mass of approximately 380kDa was determined for the native enzyme (corresponding to a hexamer); the pH and temperature optima for the activity were 4.0 and 60 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme was active on phytic acid, p-nitrophenylphosphate, glucose-6-phosphate, ADP, sodium pyrophosphate, AMP, 1-naphthylphosphate and ATP. Based on the K(m)/K(cat) and further biochemical parameters, the enzyme was classified as a cell-bound phytase with acid phosphatase activity and not as acid phosphatase, despite its strong similarity to the latter class of enzymes. The yeast biomass containing phytase has been demonstrated to be useful as a feed additive in poultry and aquaculture, and dephytinization of foods and feeds., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The type I membrane protein calnexin is a conserved key component of the quality control mechanism in the endoplasmic reticulum. It functions as a molecular chaperone that monitors the folding state of nascent polypeptides entering the endoplasmic reticulum. Calnexin also behaves as a lectin, as its chaperoning activity involves binding of oligosaccharide moieties present on newly imported glycoproteins. We isolated the calnexin gene (HpCNE1) from the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha, and used HpCNE1 expression plasmids for super-transformation of H. polymorpha strains secreting target proteins of biotechnological interest. The elevated dosage of HpCNE1 enhanced secretion of the four proteins tested: three glycoproteins and one unglycosylated product. Secretion of bacterial alginate epimerase AlgE1 was increased threefold on average, and secretion of both human interferon-gamma and fungal consensus phytase twofold. With phytase and AlgE1 this improvement was all the more remarkable, as the secretion level was already high in the original strains (g L(-1) range). The same approach improved secretion of human serum albumin, which lacks N-linked glycans, about twofold. Glycosylation of the pro-MFalpha1 leader may account for the effect of calnexin in this case. Our results argue that cooverexpression of calnexin can serve as a generally applicable tool for enhancing the secretion of all types of heterologous protein by H. polymorpha.

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.

Two non-Saccharomyces yeasts have been developed as hosts for heterologous gene expression. The celD gene from Clostridium thermocellum, encoding a heat-stable cellulase, served as the test sequence. The first system is based on the amylolytic species Schwanniomyces occidentalis, the second on the xylolytic species Pichia stipitis. The systems comprise auxotrophic host strains (trp5 in the case of S. occidentalis; trp5-10, his3 in the case of P. stipitis) and suitable transformation vectors. Vector components consist of an S. occidentalis-derived autonomously replicating sequence (SwARS) and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae-derived TRP5 sequence for plasmid propagation and selection in the yeast hosts, an ori and an ampicillin-resistance sequence for propagation and selection in a bacterial host. A range of vectors has been engineered employing different promoter elements for heterologous gene expression control in both species. Homologous elements derived from highly expressed genes of the respective hosts appeared to be of superior quality: in the case of S. occidentalis that of the GAM1 gene, in the case of P. stipitis that of the XYL1 gene. Further elements tested are the S. cerevisiae-derived ADH1 and PDC1 promoter sequences.

The methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha has been developed as an efficient production system for heterologous proteins. The system offers the possibility to cointegrate heterologous genes in anticipated fixed copy numbers into the chromosome. As a consequence co-production of different proteins in stoichiometric ratios can be envisaged. This provides options to design this yeast as an industrial biocatalyst in procedures where several enzymes are required for the efficient conversion of a given inexpensive compound into a valuable product. To this end recombinant strains have been engineered with multiple copies of expression cassettes containing the glycolate oxidase (GO) gene from spinach and the catalase T (CTT1) gene from S. cerevisiae. The newly created strains produce high levels of the peroxisomal glycolate oxidase and the cytosolic catalase T. The strains efficiently convert glycolate into glyoxylic acid, oxidizing the added substrate and decomposing the peroxide formed during this reaction into water and oxygen.

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.

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.