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Background: Analysis of the cell operation at the metabolic level requires collecting data of different types and to determine their confidence level. In addition, the acquired information has to be combined in order to obtain a consistent operational view. In the case of Pichia pastoris, information of its biomass composition at macromolecular and elemental level is scarce particularly when different environmental conditions, such as oxygen availability or, genetic backgrounds (e.g. recombinant protein production vs. non production conditions) are compared. Results: P. pastoris cells growing in carbon-limited chemostat cultures under different oxygenation conditions (% O2 in the bioreactor inlet gas: 21%, 11% and 8%, corresponding to normoxic, oxygen-limiting and hypoxic conditions, respectively), as well as under recombinant protein (antibody fragment, Fab) producing and non-producing conditions, were analyzed from different points of view. On the one hand, the macromolecular and elemental composition of the biomass was measured using different techniques at the different experimental conditions and proper reconciliation techniques were applied for gross error detection of the measured substrates and products conversion rates. On the other hand, fermentation data was analyzed applying elemental mass balances. This allowed detecting a previously missed by-product secreted under hypoxic conditions, identified as arabinitol (aka. arabitol). After identification of this C5 sugar alcohol as a fermentation by-product, the mass balances of the fermentation experiments were validated. Conclusions: After application of a range of analytical and statistical techniques, a consistent view of growth parameters and compositional data of P. pastoris cells growing under different oxygenation conditions was obtained. The obtained data provides a first view of the effects of oxygen limitation on the physiology of this microorganism, while recombinant Fab production seems to have li

Consultable des del TDX, Títol obtingut de la portada digitalitzada, Aquesta tesi s'emmarca en els àmbits la biologia de sistemes i l'enginyeria metabòlica, és a dir, en l'anàlisi quantitatiu de sistemes biològics complexes. En aquest estudi s'ha utilitzat el llevat metilotròfic Pichia pastoris com a organisme model, el qual ha adquirit durant els darrers anys una importància creixent en l'àmbit de la biotecnologia, mostrant una gran capacitat com a sistema de producció de proteïnes recombinants. L'objectiu principal de l'estudi ha estat establir tècniques i metodologies experimentals i computacionals d'anàlisi quantitativa de la fisiologia cel·lular al sistema de P. pastoris. L'anàlisi quantitativa (i modelització matemàtica) dels processos cel·lulars és una eina molt valuosa per al redisseny racional del metabolisme cel·lular amb l'objectiu d'optimitzar els sistemes vius per a determinades aplicacions biotecnològiques (enginyeria metabòlica), així com per al disseny i optimització racional de processos de cultiu i expressió de proteïnes recombinants. Aquests objectius depenen de l'elucidació de la xarxa de bioreaccions, concretament de la recopilació de dades experimentals disponibles sobre els components de la xarxa, una estimació dels fluxos in vivo i la descripció teòrica (modelització) de la xarxa. Aquest treball ha estat centrat en l'estudi sistemàtic in vivo del metabolisme central del carboni de P. pastoris. El creixement del llevat sobre el sucre glucosa o d'altres compostos com la glicerina o metanol, substrats àmpliament utilitzats en processos de cultiu de P. pastoris, implica a un conjunt o xarxa de reaccions bioquímiques. La comparació de les variacions de fluxos metabòlics in vivo d'aquesta xarxa en cèl·lules de llevat creixent sota diferents condicions ambientals proporciona valuosa informació sobre el seu comportament i regulació. En aquesta tesi, s'han realitzat una sèrie de cultius en bioreactors operant en continu (quimiostat), els quals permeten mantenir les cèl·lules en condicions fisiològiques controlades i co, The present thesis can be framed within the Systems Biology and Metabolic Engineering research areas, i.e. in the quantitative analysis of complex biological systems. The model biological system used in this work has been the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. This organism is becoming increasingly employed as a host system for the production of a wide variety of heterologous proteins. The quantitative analysis and the mathematic modelling of cellular processes has been shown to be a very valuable tool in the area of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, both for the rational design of cellular metabolism (metabolic engineering) and for the rational design and optimization of culture processes and expression of foreign proteins. The present work has been focused on the in vivo study of the Pichia pastoris' central carbon metabolism. Growth of this yeast on glucose and other carbon sources such as glycerol or methanol involves a network of biochemical reactions (metabolic pathways) that take place in the cytoplasm and/or in different subcellular compartments (organelles). The comparison between the in vivo variations of the topology (active metabolic pathways) and the in vivo variations of the metabolic fluxes (metabolic reaction rates) of this network under different environmental conditions and different genotypes, generate important information about its behaviour and regulation. In this work, a series of chemostat cultures have been performed at different growth conditions. Chemostat cultivations allow maintaining the cells at a controlled and constant physiological state (stationary metabolic state). In this way, it was possible to study different cellular metabolic steady states corresponding to different physiological states. These were achieved by growing cells under different environmental conditions, namely different carbon sources at growth rates. The measurement of the metabolic flux variations was done experimentally using isotopic tracer techniques invol