Recombinant enzymes from thermophilic micro-organisms expressed in fungal hosts

Biochem Soc Trans. 2004 Apr;32(Pt 2):293-7. doi: 10.1042/bst0320293.

Abstract

Cost-effective production of enzymes for industrial processes makes the appropriate selection of the host/vector expression system critical. We have tested two fungal systems for the bulk production of enzymes from thermophiles. The yeast Kluyveromyces lactis has been developed as a secretion host employing expression vectors based on the 2u-like plasmid pKD1 of Kluyveromyces drosophilarium. Our second system involves the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei. Signal and protein fusion vectors have been constructed using the strong cellobiohydrolase 1 ( cbh1 ) promoter and recombinant plasmid DNAs introduced into various high-secreting T. reesei strains using biolistic particle delivery. In some cases (e.g. the xynB gene of Dictyoglomus thermophilum) we have reconstructed the genes according to Trichoderma codon preferences and demonstrated a dramatic increase in the production of the enzymes. The heterologous XynB enzyme is glycosylated differently in different Trichoderma strains. A proteomics approach has been taken to identify strongly expressed proteins produced by T. reesei under various cultivation conditions in order to identify condition-specific promoters driving the production of these proteins. Analyses indicated that HEX1, the major protein of the fungal Woronin body, is a dominant protein under both cellulase-inducing and -repressing conditions. The hex1 gene together with its promoter and terminator sequences has been isolated and the promoter function studied relative to cultivation time and medium.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biochemistry / methods
  • Biotechnology / methods
  • Codon
  • Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases / metabolism
  • Enzymes / chemistry*
  • Glycosylation
  • Hot Temperature
  • Kluyveromyces / enzymology*
  • Plasmids / metabolism*
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Proteome
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry*
  • Time Factors
  • Transcription, Genetic
  • Trichoderma / metabolism*
  • beta-Glucosidase / metabolism

Substances

  • Codon
  • Enzymes
  • Proteome
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • beta-Glucosidase
  • Endo-1,4-beta Xylanases
  • XynB xylanase