Using a vector pool containing variable-strength promoters to optimize protein production in Yarrowia lipolytica

Type Article
Date 2017-02
Language English
Author(s) Dulermo Remi1, Brunel Francois1, Dulermo Thierry1, Ledesma-Amaro Rodrigo1, Vion Jeremy1, Trassaert Marion1, Thomas Stephane1, Nicaud Jean-Marc1, Leplat Christophe1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Paris Saclay, BIMLip Integrat Metab Microbial Lipids, INRA AgroParisTech, Micalis Inst,UMR1319, Domaine Vilvert, F-78350 Jouy En Josas, France.
Source Microbial Cell Factories (1475-2859) (Biomed Central Ltd), 2017-02 , Vol. 16 , N. 1 , P. 31 (11p.)
DOI 10.1186/s12934-017-0647-3
WOS© Times Cited 80
Keyword(s) Yarrowia lipolytica, Protein production, RedStar2, Glucoamylase, Xylanase, Hybrid promoters
Abstract

Background

The yeast Yarrowia lipolytica is an increasingly common biofactory. To enhance protein expression, several promoters have been developed, including the constitutive TEF promoter, the inducible POX2 promotor, and the hybrid hp4d promoter. Recently, new hp4d-inspired promoters have been created that couple various numbers of UAS1 tandem elements with the minimal LEU2 promoter or the TEF promoter. Three different protein-secretion signaling sequences can be used: preLip2, preXpr2, and preSuc2.

Results

To our knowledge, our study is the first to use a set of vectors with promoters of variable strength to produce proteins of industrial interest. We used the more conventional TEF and hp4d promoters along with five new hybrid promoters: 2UAS1-pTEF, 3UAS1-pTEF, 4UAS1-pTEF, 8UAS1-pTEF, and hp8d. We compared the production of RedStar2, glucoamylase, and xylanase C when strains were grown on three media. As expected, levels of RedStar2 and glucoamylase were greatest in the strain with the 8UAS1-pTEF promoter, which was stronger. However, surprisingly, the 2UAS1-pTEF promoter was associated with the greatest xylanase C production and activity. This finding underscored that stronger promoters are not always better when it comes to protein production. We therefore developed a method for easily identifying the best promoter for a given protein of interest. In this gateway method, genes for YFP and α-amylase were transferred into a pool of vectors containing different promoters and gene expression was then analyzed. We observed that, in most cases, protein production and activity were correlated with promoter strength, although this pattern was protein dependent.

Conclusions

Protein expression depends on more than just promoter strength. Indeed, promoter suitability appears to be protein dependent; in some cases, optimal expression and activity was obtained using a weaker promoter. We showed that using a vector pool containing promoters of variable strength can be a powerful tool for rapidly identifying the best producer for a given protein of interest.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version 11 2 MB Open access
Additional file 1: Table S1. Details on the strains and plasmids used in this study. 3 253 KB Open access
Additional file 2: Figure S1. Schematic representation of plasmid and strain construction. 120 KB Open access
Additional file 3: Data S1. Sequences of the genes used in this study. 12 KB Open access
Additional file 4: Figure S2. Production and activity of secreted glucoamylase for the different strains in the different media. 2 115 KB Open access
Additional file 5: Table S2. Glucoamylase and xylanase C concentrations. 12 KB Open access
Additional file 6: Table S3. Xylanase activity levels. 11 KB Open access
Additional file 7: Figure S3. Schematic representation of the construction of the vector pool. 2 400 KB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Dulermo Remi, Brunel Francois, Dulermo Thierry, Ledesma-Amaro Rodrigo, Vion Jeremy, Trassaert Marion, Thomas Stephane, Nicaud Jean-Marc, Leplat Christophe (2017). Using a vector pool containing variable-strength promoters to optimize protein production in Yarrowia lipolytica. Microbial Cell Factories, 16(1), 31 (11p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-017-0647-3 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00428/54003/