Strategies for optimal synthesis and secretion of heterologous proteins in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris.

Numerous heterologous proteins have been produced at greater than gram per liter levels in the methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, using the methanol oxidase promoter. The factors that drastically influence protein production in this system include: copy number of the expression cassette, site and mode of chromosomal integration of the expression cassette, mRNA 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions (UTR), translational start codon (AUG) context, A+T composition of cDNA, transcriptional and translational blocks, nature of secretion signal, endogenous protease activity, host strain physiology, media and growth conditions, and fermentation parameters. All these factors should be considered in designing an optimal production system. The inherent ability of P. pastoris to convert the zymogen (pro-enzyme) form of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) into active mature forms (which tend to self-degrade, and in some instances also cause damage to cells), largely limits the use of this system for the production of MMP. However, this problem can be partly alleviated by co-expression of tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP-1).