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Pichia pastoris fermentation with mixed-feeds of glycerol and methanol: growth kinetics and production improvement

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology

Abstract

Fed-batch fermentation of a methanol utilization plus (Mut+) Pichia pastoris strain typically has a growth phase followed by a production phase (induction phase). In the growth phase glycerol is usually used as carbon for cell growth while in the production phase methanol serves as both inducer and carbon source for recombinant protein expression. Some researchers employed a mixed glycerol-methanol feeding strategy during the induction phase to improve production, but growth kinetics on glycerol and methanol and the interaction between them were not reported. The objective of this paper is to optimize the mixed feeding strategy based on growth kinetic studies using a Mut+ Pichia strain, which expresses the heavy-chain fragment C of botulinum neurotoxin serotype C [BoNT/C(Hc)] intracellularly, as a model system. Growth models on glycerol and methanol that describe the relationship between specific growth rate (μ) and specific glycerol/methanol consumption rate (ν gly, ν MeOH) were established. A mixed feeding strategy with desired μ gly/μ MeOH =1, 2, 3, 4 (desired μ MeOH set at 0.015 h−1) was employed to study growth interactions and their effect on production. The results show that the optimal desired μ gly/μ MeOH is around 2 for obtaining the highest BoNT/C(Hc) protein content in cells: about 3 mg/g wet cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank UNL undergraduate students Kian Ann Teh and Kok Wah Lim for operating the fermentations, and Michael Dux and Angeline Yong for performing the Western Blot analysis. We also thank Jacqueline D. Andersen and all other members of BPDF-UNL fermentation group for their assistance in running the fermentations. This research was financially supported by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (contract number: DAMD-17-98-C-8034).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 207M Othmer Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0919, USA

    Wenhui Zhang, Karen J. Hywood Potter, Bradley A. Plantz & Michael M. Meagher

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA

    Vicki L. Schlegel

  3. United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Frederick, MD 21702, USA

    Leonard A. Smith

Authors
  1. Wenhui Zhang
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  2. Karen J. Hywood Potter
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  3. Bradley A. Plantz
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  4. Vicki L. Schlegel
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  5. Leonard A. Smith
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  6. Michael M. Meagher
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Correspondence to Wenhui Zhang.

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Zhang, W., Hywood Potter, K.J., Plantz, B.A. et al. Pichia pastoris fermentation with mixed-feeds of glycerol and methanol: growth kinetics and production improvement. J IND MICROBIOL BIOTECHNOL 30, 210–215 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-003-0035-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-003-0035-3

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